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J. WINFIELD HENRY. 



LETTERS AND PAPERS 

OF 

GOVERNOR JOHN HENRY 

OF MARYLAND 



Member of Continental Congress 1 777-1 788 
Member of United States Senate 1 789-1 797 
Governor of Maryland - - 1 797- 1 798 



With some account of his Life, Genealogy and Descendants, as shown 
by extracts from Records and Papers in the Maryland His- 
torical Society, and original Letters and Memoranda 
in the hands of the Compiler, one of his 
great-grandsons, 

J. WINFIELD HENRY 



1904 

GEORGE W. KING PRINTING CO. 

BALTIMORE 






THIS BOOK 

IS DEDICATED TO 

MY GRANDFATHER 

JOHN CAMPBELL HENRY 

THE ELDEST SON OF GOVERNOR JOHN HENRY, 

A NOBLE AND GENEROUS MAN, WHOSE 

MEMORY SHOULD BE HONORED 

AND CHERISHED BY ALL 

HIS DESCENDANTS 



INDEX 

Pages 

Letters of John Henry to Governor Johnson 1 to 20 

Letter of John Henry to Marquiss de la Fayette. 21 

Letters of John Henry to Wm. Vans Murray 22 to 28 

Letter of John Henry to General Smith... . 29 

Letters of John Henry to Levin H. Campbell 31 to 35 

Letter of John Henry to His Overseer — 36 

Letter of John Henry to Skinner Ennels 38 

Letter from Thomas Jefferson to John Henry 41 

Letters from Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, to John Henry 45 to 49 

Letters from John Eager Howard to John Henry 50 to 54 

Letter from Oliver Walcott to John Henry 55 

Letter from Gen. Samuel Smith to John Henry 57 

Letter from Gov. J. H. Stone to John Henry 58 

Letter from Benjamin Rush to John Henry 59 

Letter from Wm. Vans Murray to John Henry. 60 

Letter from Isaac Henry to John Henry 62 

Letter from Matilda Henry to John Henry. 63 

Qualifications for the Governors of Maryland 64 

John Henry elected Governor 65 

John Henry takes the oath as Governor 66 

John Henry's Letter of acceptance 67 

Address of Governor Henry to the Maryland Legislature. 68 

Answer from the Legislature 76 

Memoir of Governor Henry. 81 to 93 

Some Account of His Descendants. 94 to 102 

Record of Governor Henry's Marriage 102 

Family Traditions 103 

Letter of Joseph Dashield 104 

Old Family Tombs at Weston 105 

Letter of Mrs. Aurelia Winder Townsend 106 

Letter of Dr. James Murray 109 

Memoranda of Wills in Somerset County, Maryland 113 

Will of Rev. John Henry 117 

Will of Madam Mary Hampton 120 

Will of Col. John Henry 125 

Will of John Campbell Henry 130 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



J. Winfield Henry. 

Henry Coat of Arms. 

Dorothy Rider, nee Hutchins. 

John Campbell Henry. 

Mrs. John Campbell Henry, nee Steele. 

Dr. J. Winfield Henry. 

Col. Francis J. Henry. 

Hon. Daniel M. Henry. 

Rider Henry. 

Governor Henry Lloyd. 

Daniel M. Henry, Jr. 

View of the Hambrooks House. 

Dennis Kennard, an old family servant. 



LETTERS. 



John Henry to Governor Johnson. 



York Town, Jan. 27th, 1778. 

Sir : The unsettled state I have been in since I got 
here has put it out of my power to answer your letter 
of the 19th Jan, before this time. 

Congress is extremely sorry the salt could not be pro- 
cured; at the same time they highly approve of your 
Excellency's conduct, and desired the President to re- 
turn to you and the Council the thanks of Congress for 
your respect and attention to their resolve. 

Congress has accepted the salt you offered, and I ex- 
pect the President has written you fully upon that head. 
The Commissary is likewise to purchase such quantities 
as he may think necessary, and I am in hopes with what 
he will receive from you, there will be a sufficient quan- 
tity for the present demand. 

I am sensible of the low state of our own Treasury, 
and I believe I may assure you with truth that the Con- 
tinental Treasury here is in a much worse situation. 
However, we have procured a warrant on Thomas Har- 
wood, Esq., Commissioner of the Loan Office for the State 
of Maryland, for twenty thousand dollars, drawn in your 
favor, for the purpose of recruiting the Army. 



The situation of our Army is truly alarming, and un- 
less we can supply it with provisions by some means 
more effectual than any now adopted, I am afraid they 
must separate. A committee is now out for that pur- 
pose. The Army is to undergo a reformation. Mr. Car- 
roll was one of the members appointed on that business, 
but the indisposition of Mrs. Carroll called him home. 
The other gentlemen who were appointed are now at 
camp. 

Congress has at length agreed upon the just and 
equitable doctrine of retaliation, which you may see by 
the enclosed papers. 

We have no news. Make my respects to the Council, 
and believe me to be sir, with great respect. 

Your very humble servant, 

John Henry. 



John Henry to Governor Johnson. 



York Town, Feb. 14th, 1778. 

Sir: Congress a day or two ago took up the appoint- 
ment of commercial agents, and concluded to refer the 
same to the Commissioners in France. Mr. Ross and 
your Brother were in nomination. If you have an op- 
portunity, it would be well to write to Mr. Johnson. I 
do not at present know in what part of France he re- 
sides; possibly, upon inquiry, I may be informed. At 
this time I do not know of an opportunity, but as soon 
as there is one I shall write to him myself. 

Besides our accounts lately from the West Indies, we 
are informed by a letter from Richd. H. Lee to his 
brother, that there is a large snow arrived at York Town 
42 days from Bordeaux, loaded with salt and dry goods. 
The captain and supercargo say the number of troops 
sent to the West Indies is certainly very considerable. 
Among them are a very powerful body of artillery and 
two thousand dismounted cavalry. What the latter can 
be for, puzzles me. These gentlemen say that altho the 
utmost care is taken to quiet the minds and suspicions 
of G. B. that a war will most certainly take place in the 
Spring. They further say the Spanish Ambassador, the 
Duke de Choiseul and Dr. Franklin have had frequent 
and long conferences. 

The state of our Army is critical. Four months' pay, 
if not more, are due them, and no money in the Treasury 
to satisfy their just and reasonable demands. The press 



is at work, and attended with all vigilance and care, and 
has been for sometime past, and nearly a million a week 
is now made, and yet our demands are greater than we 
can answer. They come in from all parts of the conti- 
nent. The avarice of our people and the extravagant 
prices of all commodities, joined with the imperfect 
management of our affairs, would expend the mines of 
Chili and Peru. 

For the want of pay, of clothes and provisions, our 
Army is decreasing every hour, not by one or two at a 
time, but from seven to twelve. By a letter from Col. 
Smith he tells me some of the troops have been eight 
days at different times without meat, and only a bare 
allowance of flour. The State of Pennsylvania has passed 
a law appointing certain commissioners in every county 
of the State, with full power to purchase or to seize at 
stated prices all provisions necessary for the Army. 
These men are subject to the orders of Congress as to 
the quantity of each article of provisions to be pur- 
chased or seized. Besides this the Board of War have 
authority from Congress to purchase twenty thousand 
barrels of flour and other provisions necessary for the 
Spring. From these resources I expect fifty thousand 
barrels of flour, and quantities of other provisions, but 
to what amount is uncertain. Our Commissary General 
does not at this time, as I am informed, know that he 
has five thousand barrels of pork or beef. Upon such 
foundations the existence of our Army depends. At 
whose door this prospect of ruin lies, time will discover. 

What think you of Dr. Franklin's assassination ? With 
some gentlemen here, the tale has the appearance of 
probability, with others it is esteemed a fact. I hope 
both opinions are groundless. His death will stagnate 



5 

our system in France and probably shatter some of the 
Doctor's flattering hopes of serving his country through 
the sides of France. 

Will the test go down ? Will the law for recruiting 
our quota of troops succeed ? The committee at camp, 
I understand, will recommend measures for filling the 
Army, which I expect will not be very agreeable to our 
people. 

North Carolina has agreed only to part of the Confed- 
eration. The other States, I believe, have done nothing 
with it as yet. 

Virginia, New York and Massachusetts Bay are unrep- 
resented. 

I am sir, your very humble servant, 

John Henry. 



John Henry to Governor Johnson. 



York Town, March 6th, 1778. 

Sir: Col. Samuel Smith arrived here yesterday and 
acquainted me with the difficulty he met with in the 
recruiting service for the want of the Continental 
Bounty. Upon his solicitation and the prospect of ad- 
vancing the public service, I have procured from Con- 
gress ten thousand dollars to be transmitted to you, to 
be distributed in such proportion among the recruiting 
officers as you may judge most proper. Colonel Smith 
has undertaken the carriage of this money, which I 
hope you will receive in a few days. It is the earnest 
request of Congress that the battalions from each State 
should be filled up as early this Spring as possible. 
Maryland, I hope, will not be backward. The draught 
of the militia, recommended by Congress, I fear, will 
meet with many obstacles in the Legislature. Should 
that measure fail, I am at a loss to discover what expe- 
dient can be fallen upon. The expedition into Canada 
is suspended. General Burgoyne and two of his officers, 
upon his earnest request to Congress, is permitted to 
embark for England. Enclosed you have a copy of the 
resolve upon which the ten thousand dollars, mentioned 
above, was granted, by which you will see part of the 
money is to be applied towards paying the premium for 
taking up deserters. 

I am, Sir, your very humble servant, 

John Henry. 



John Henry to Governor Johnson. 

York Town, March 10th, 1778. 

Dear Sir: Upon the representation of Col. Samuel 
Smith who was here last week, I obtained from Congress 
ten thousand dollars for the Recruiting Service. I sent 
it by him to you and I expect you have received it be- 
fore this time. If that sum will not do, I beg you will 
be kind enough to acquaint me. I am informed the 
Committee of Congress at camp have among other 
States, applied to the State of Maryland for the pur- 
chase of a number of horses for the purpose of forming 
a body of light cavalry. If you should approve of the 
plan, or should you lay it before the Assembly, and it is 
adopted by them, I trust some estimate of the expense 
will be made that the money may be forwarded from 
this place. Should the Recruiting Service require a 
greater number of dollars I believe they may be had. • 

I believe you need not entertain any fears of the ex- 
pedition against Canada going forward. The advanced 
season of the year, and the feeble preparations in that 
department has effectually put an end to it. I most 
cordially join with you in opinion, that it is the interest 
as well as the true policy of this Country to collect their 
force to a single point by strengthening the hands of 
General Washington. But this I fear will not be the 
case. It is the opinion of some, and they have weight 
with a certain class of men, that the whole force of the 
enemy will be turned towards the east the next cam- 
paign. A military gentleman in high office supports this 



8 

opinion. Should it prevail in Congress I think it will in- 
jure the Middle States in a high degree, as well as the 
common cause at large. The Virginia Frigate is ordered 
to make another attempt, if she fails, the measure you 
propose, I expect, will be adopted. 

Virginia will this afternoon offer to ratify the confed- 
eration. No other State is prepared. I shall take this 
opportunity of stating the objections to it, from Mary- 
land, though I have little hopes of this matter being soon 
determined. I fear it never will in our favor. 

We had intelligence last night of one of our armed 
vessels in the Delaware, near Cristeen having taken two 
ships and a small sloop of war. We have not heard the 
cargoes. I believe this news may be relied on. 

Enclosed you have some of the debates of the House 

of Lords and Commons. They will amuse you. Twenty 

thousand additional troops for the service of 1778 is 

voted without a division. With great regard, I am. Sir, 

Your most obedient and very humble servant, 

John Henry. 



John Henry to Governor Johnson. 



York Town, April 5th, 1778. 

Dear Sir: — I acquainted you in my former letter 
that the Delegates had obtained from Congress the loan 
of one hundred thousand dollars. I expected when I 
wrote you, that I would have been able to send you the 
money in a day or two but the great demands on the 
Treasury have prevented me. In the course of this week 
you may expect the whole or at least some part of it. 

Congress yesterday ratified the Treaties of Alliances 
and Commerce between France and these States. You 
will soon have a copy sent to the State. Mr. Chase writes 
you fully upon this subject. 

I am, Sir, with great respect, yours, 

John Henry. 



John Henry to Governor Johnson. 



York Town, April 20th, 1778. 

Dear Sir : I have procured the inclosed paper with 
some difficulty. When you have read it, if the Assembly 
should be sitting, I wish you would send it to the 
Speaker. Different opinions prevail here with regard to 
the authenticity of it. For my own part, I have no 
doubt, from what I have lately seen in the English 
papers, but these two bills, before this time, are enacted 
into laws. I dread the impressions it will make upon 
the minds of many of our people. If it should, and I 
have no doubt of it, make its appearance in the form of 
a law, it will prove more dangerous to our cause than 
ten thousand of their best troops. It will, in a day or 
two, be under the consideration of Congress. 

The cartel for the general exchange of prisoners is at 
an end. Upon our commissioners examining the powers 
of the commissioners on the part of General Howe, they 
discovered he meant the treaty to be of a personal na- 
ture, founded on the mutual confidence and honor of the 
contracting generals, and had no intention of binding 
the nation, or of extending the cartel beyond the limits 
and duration of his own command. They declared 
themselves ready to treat with us on this footing, with 
their present powers, which they deemed adequate 
to the purposes of their meeting. Upon this point the 
treaty broke off. I lament the situation of our prison- 
ers, and must approve of the conduct of our commis- 
sioners. A cartel upon so narrow a foundation as the 



11 

personal honor of General Howe would be of little use 
to us and of short duration, liable at any time to be set 
aside by a subsequent commander or by the British King 
without a breach of honor. This conduct will teach us 
a lesson respecting General Burgoyne and his army. I 
make no doubt you have heard of the insurrection in the 
Delaware State. 

By a letter from a Mr. Patterson, we are informed 
that a considerable number of the disaffected have as- 
sembled at a place near the head of the Chester River. 
They are exerting themselves to add to their number, 
and those who will not join them they deprive of their 
arms and ammunition. It is said here they have British 
officers among them, and expect to be re-enforced from 
Philadelphia. This matter is viewed here as very serious 
by some. Mr. Carroll gives his compliments to you and 
desires me to acquaint you that there is a considerable 
quantity of provision at Charles Town, at the head of 
our bay, which appears to be in a dangerous situation. 
There is also, as I am informed by Mr. S. Stewart, quan- 
ties of provisions at Princess Anne in Somerset, and 
other places in that neighborhood, which it would be 
fortunate for us if we could remove them without delay. 

When I wrote to you some weeks ago I informed you 
that I had procured ten thousand dollars for the recruit- 
ing service, which I sent down by Col. S. Smith. I have 
never heard whether you have received it. If you 
should write to any of the delegates by the next post, I 
should be obliged to you to acquaint us with the receipt 
of the money if it has reached your hands. I am sir, 
with great respect, yours, 

John Henry. 



12 



John Henry to Governor Johnson. 



York Town, April 24th, 1778. 

Sir: I am desired by the delegates to acquaint your 
Excellency that we have this day procured from Con- 
gress thirty thousand dollars for the recruiting service. 
Colonel Williams applied to us for money for that pur- 
pose, and we have thought it proper to allow him out of 
that sum eight thousand dollars; the remaining twenty- 
two thousand will go from this place by Mr. Hamilton, 
an express put up by Col. S. Smith. I have desired him, 
as soon as the express reaches him, to send him forward 
to you. 

As to arms and blankets I can promise you nothing 
certain at this time. A few have lately arrived in the 
Eastern States. The Board of War have promised me 
our troops shall have their proportion of them. Every 
step is taken to procure arms, and I hope, as the troops 
come forward, the Board of War will be able to supply 
them. The arms of the State I would keep; not one of 
them should, if I could prevent it, come out of the State 
but upon the most urgent necessity. I have just left 
the Board of War, and they are desirous and willing 
that you should have the goods now at Cambridge made 
up in Baltimore. And if you will be kind enough to 
write particularly what you want, they will immediately 
authorize you to take such articles and to distribute 
them among Maryland troops. 



13 

You will receive by an express, which left this place 
today, Lord North's speech, the two bills which occa- 
sioned it and the strictures of Congress upon them. 
They were drawn up in haste, but I trust they will be 
sufficient to show the wickedness of the Ministry. 

I am, sir, with great respect, yours, 

John Henry. 



John Henry to Governor Johnson. 



York Town, May 11th, 1778. 

Dear Sir:— I sent you yesterday by Mr. David Poe 
$36,000, part of the warrant of one hundred thousand 
Dollars, lately granted by Congress to the State of 
Maryland. This gentleman promised to deliver the 
$36,000 to Mr. Lux, at Baltimore, whom I have requested 
to forward it immediately to you. 

I received today a letter from Mr. Brown of Annapolis, 
he has expressed a strong desire to return home to his na- 
tive country. His intentions are to apply to you and the 
Council for leave to go to Philadelphia and from thence 
to England. I cannot discover any reasonable objection 
against granting his request. Mr. Carroll will also write 
to you upon this subject ; you will easily perceive this 
gentleman is very desirous of appearing before you, 
with the assistance of some of his acquaintances to 
strengthen his application. I assure you if I could ap- 
prehend the least danger from granting him leave to 
depart in the way he desires, I would be one of the last 
who would give him permission, but I am persuaded 
he cannot if he had an inclination, communicate any- 
thing to the enemy which they do not know already. 
When you consider the particular situation of this 
gentleman, I am inclined to think you will be of opinion 
that he has some claim to your attention and indulgence. 
If you should join with me in opinion in this, and there 



15 

are no particular State reasons for detaining this gen- 
tleman, I hope he will meet with your assent. 

We have nothing new since Mr. Chase left us, except 
a report that the enemy are preparing to leave 
Philadelphia. 

I am, Sir, with great respect and esteem, yours, 

John Henry. 



16 



John Henry to Governor Johnson. 



Philadelphia, Oct. 20, 1778. 

Dear Sir: I had tke honor of writing to you yester- 
day in the morning. Since that time the following in- 
telligence received from Lord Sterling has changed the 
opinions of most gentlemen with respect to the imme- 
diate operations of the enemy. 

*'A certain Captain Clure, who was taken some time 
since by the enemy in a merchant ship, came out of New 
York yesterday and gave me more particular intelligence 
than I have been able to procure. He says that two 
hundred and fifty sail of transport are prepared for the 
reception of troops. The embarcation is in part begun. 
All the heavy iron cannon from the batteries are ship- 
ped. Sixteen sail of the line to go on what they call 
the grand expedition. 

*' I have this moment received the report of the officer 
I have fixed at Amboy to watch the motions of the 
enemy. He says, 'October the 16th twelve ships fell 
down to Sandy Hook. October the 17th, early in the 
morning, about one hundred sail of ships of war and 
transports fell down to the Hook.' Their grand move- 
ment is on the point of taking place, and I hope to be 
able tomorrow to know their destination." 

There is in the Secretary's office twenty copies of the 
first and second volumes of the proceedings of Congress. 
If it is agreeable to the Assembly I will have them 
packed up and sent by way of Cristeen to Annapolis. 



17 

The Flag that was coming to this city with the mani- 
festo and proclamation from the Commissioners is cast 
away on the Jersey shore. Two officers and ten men 
were saved. They had three pickets which were lost. 
If the General Assembly is now sitting you will be 
pleased to communicate this intelligence to them. I 
wrote to the Speaker yesterday and gave him the news 
of the day, which was not as perfect as the present, 
which, I believe, may be depended on. 

I am at present alone, and from the important busi- 
ness before Congress, respecting our finances and for- 
eign affairs, earnestly desire a representation as soon as 
any of my colleagues can possibly attend. 

I am, sir, with great respect to you and the Council, 
Your most obedient and very humble servant, 

John Henry. 

The letter from Sterling was dated on Saturday last. 



John Henry to Governor Johnson. 



In Congress, October 21, 1778. 

Dear Sir : I have this moment received from the 
President of Congress, the inclosed copy of a confession 
of a pilot on board the Flag Ship that was cast away on 
the Jersey Shore. 

I gave you yesterday the best intelligence we have re- 
specting the motions of the enemy. I believe we may 
rest assured that Boston is the object of their destination. 
I shall continue to give you the earliest account we 
have. 

I am. Sir, with great respect. 

Your most obedient and humble servant, 

John Henry. 

Confession of the pilot is on page 220, Vol, 21, Archi- 
ves of Maryland. 



19 



John Henry to Governor Johnson. 



Philadelphia, Oct. 27th, 1778. 
Dear Sir: A considerable detachment, consisting of 
the new levies, left New York the beginning of last 
week. It is believed they sailed directly for the West 
Indies. 

By a letter received from Lord Sterling yesterday 
morning it appears that the troops on Staten Island are 
ready to embark and only wait for the return of part of 
their regiments sent on the late expedition to Egg 
Harbor. They are destroying their fortification which 
puts it out of doubt that they do not mean to hold that 
island this winter. 

I should be obliged to you. Sir, to inform me whether 
the State has any clothing for their officers. Their wants 
are great and distressing, and unless they are supplied, it 
will be out of their power to continue in the service. 
Some of them, I am told are at this time so circum- 
stanced, that unless they have speedy relief it will be 
impossible for them to do their duty. To purchase out 
of their pay would leave them pennyless for eight 
months in the year. A suit of clothes will cost them 
seven or eight months' pay, and when obtained will not 
last them above five months; in this way many of them 
have spent their patrimonies, and unless they can now 
find some resources in the public benevolence, they must 
leave a service in which they can no longer exist. If 
there are any measures which can be fallen upon, in 



20 

which I can be of service, I should be happy in affording 
every assistance in my power. Would it not be a desir- 
able thing to know the real state of the officers by send- 
ing some person to camp for that purpose. The men I 
expect will be provided for; fifteen thousand complete 
suits I am told are now on the way to camp and material 
sufficient in hand to clothe the whole army. 

I am, Sir, with great respect to you and the Council, 
Your obedient and humble servant, 

John Henry. 



21 
John Henry to Marquiss de la Fayette. 

Dorset County, Vienna, April 19th, 1781. 

Dear Marquiss : This letter will be delivered to the 
Marquiss by Dr. William Wheiland, a friend of mine. 
He has gone through a course of medical studies, and 
is now very desirous of making further improvements 
in the line of his profession. He has applied himself 
with much care and industry, and as far as I am capable 
of judging, is extremely well qualified to render service 
to the public. If the Marquiss can gratify his anxious 
desire of making further advances in his profession, by 
permitting him to attend the hospitals of his detach- 
ment of the army, he will not only oblige a young 
gentleman of abilities and application who will be use- 
ful, but also lay me under a particular obligation. 

The Marquiss' attention to this request will be 
esteemed a favor by him who has the honor to be, with 
the highest sentiments of respect and esteem, 

His obedient, humble servant, 

[Signed.] John Henry. 

Hambrook, Dorset Co., Md., Sept. 10th, 1863. The 
foregoing is a true copy of the interior of a letter in the 
handwriting of John Henry, grandfather of Daniel M. 
Henry, and now in the possession of the latter, who, at 
the request of Francis Southwick, Esq., of Albany, New 
York, to be furnished with an autograph of Governor 
Henry is about to forward it to that gentleman. 

The endorsement of the letter is thus: 

'The Honbl. Major General Marquiss de la Fayette" 
"by Doctor Wheiland." 



22 



Senator John Henry to Wm. Vans Murray. 



July 14, 1793. 

Dear Sir : An acknowledgment by all nations that 
the individuals of every society have an inherent right 
to migrate in pursuit of happiness would have a most 
efficacious tendency to meliorate the condition of the 
oppressed. 

Happiness is so ardently desired, and so constantly 
pursued by man through the whole varied conditions of 
his life, that no impediments, however dangerous or 
difficult, would restrain him to the spot of his nativity, 
while there remained another country which presented 
to his view greater portions of good. Rulers would then 
perceive that the only effectual remedy to correct this 
erratic disposition would be to make men happiest at 
home. 

Whether so much fraternity and civilization will ever 
prevail in the monarchies of Europe to induce this ac- 
knowledgment, is too distant an event at present to ex- 
cite hope, however ardently our philanthropy might 
wish to hasten its arrival, and in the present state of 
things little good is to be expected from the clearest 
and fullest refutation of the doctrine of indissoluble al- 
legiance. The disposition, which for the last century 
has existed in some degree in most of the countries of 
Europe, has excited the attention of government and 
produced such prohibitory statutes that no reasoning, 
however clear and conclusive, which has only in view 
the happiness of man, will prevail. 



23 

If those, however, who wish to immigrate would once 
pass the barriers of their own country, I beheve they 
would never after experience any personal inconveni- 
ence from the doctrine of allegiance. In trade and in 
war they might sometimes meet with difficulties, but as 
men and members of another society it is not probable 
they would be disturbed. Those who part from their 
country and retain no views of ever returning to it, sel- 
dom leave anything behind them in the power of gov- 
ernment ; and where the government has no hold of in- 
terest by which it can induce a return, I do not recol- 
lect an instance where it has made use of other means, 
such as a demand of the delivery of the individual, ex- 
cept in cases where he is charged with high crimes or 
misdemeanors ; and, indeed, the law of England, as I 
understand it, does not provide any other mode to com- 
pel the return of an absentee but a privy seal, which pro- 
ceeds by messenger immediately from the king and 
notifies the party to return upon his faith and alle- 
giance. If he disobeys, his property, in the mode pre- 
scribed by law, is sequestered and remains, with its 
profits, in the hands of the king till his return. If then 
the only consequence of a refusal to return is the figure 
of property, this principle of indissoluble allegiance is of 
no importance to him who has shaken hands with his 
native country and left no property behind him. 

There are many instances in the English law where a 
privy seal has been served and the property seized, but 
in no instance that I recollect of a demand of the person 
of the individual. 

The multitudes that have abandoned their country 
and been permitted to remain in quietness abroad, coun- 
tenance the idea that no compulsory process is known to 



24 

the English law or constitution by which a return is to 
be effected, except what I have alluded to above. 

If one contemplates simply the strength and aggran- 
dizement of a nation as such, without regard to the 
happiness and prosperity of the individuals of which it 
is composed, the doctrine of allegiance will be found to 
have its age. But I discard it as a slavish principle, in- 
compatible with the liberty of man and the great object 
of his life, which, if he cannot obtain at home, he should 
enjoy his natural right of seeking abroad; and this lib- 
erty might be allowed to him without endangering the 
safety of nations, as the numbers are always small who 
incline to emigrate and abandon their country. 

I return your tract upon allegiance and thank you for 
the liberty of reading it. In the present unsettled and 
alarmed condition of Europe, an attack upon one of the 
most subtle principles of their governments might in- 
crease difficulties upon those whom we wish to save. 
The feelings of both kings and nobles are too much alive 
to listen to the still voice of reason and humanity. The 
vicissitudes of a few years may produce a conjuncture 
in which your thoughts may be advantageously exposed 
to the public eye. 

I hope to see you in a short time, as I am obliged to 
be in Cambridge. 

I am, dear sir, yours, 

John Henry. 



\ 

25 



Senator John Henry to Hon. Wm. Vans Murray. 



- Dear Sir: Your several favors, the last of them, of 
the 19th inst., the two preceding ones of earlier date, 
have come safe to hand. 

Mr. Madison's resolutions and the report of the Secre- 
tary of State, upon which I presume they are founded, 
I have never seen ; the letter, if not too voluminous and 
weighty for post conveyance, I should be obliged to you 
to transmit. 

You intimate pretty strongly that the propositions of 
Virginia wear a hostile appearance towards Great 
Britain ; that war should be directly and openly sought, 
or measures proposed which lead but remotely to that 
event by any of the Southern States, is in my mind the 
height of imprudence ; as the States south of Pennsyl- 
vania are circumstanced, there are few causes that ought 
ever to induce them to embark in so perilous an under- 
taking. Not only the condition and treatment of our 
slaves have been meliorated by the benign influence of 
the principles established by the late war, but their minds 
have been enlightened and their morals improved. 

They have now for several years been accustomed to 
think and talk of liberty; and man will not long think 
of his rights and of injuries for ages inflicted on his an- 
cestors without entertaining the disposition to reclaim 
and redress them. That he will remain tranquil when 
it is in his power to assist the former and to avenge the 
latter, is not to be expected, without the influence of 
foreign causes. The progressive state of things among 
ourselves, may place the master in the condition of the 
debased African. 



26 

In this struggle for a change of condition, we must be 
influenced by sentiments which governed the conduct of 
the late General Lee, who openly professed that the 
strongest army could set the providence of God at de- 
fiance. In such a cause, such a belief would be neces- 
sary, for the Deity has no attribute which could induce 
a hope that his providence would be favorably disposed 
towards the white man. 

If this revolution is among possible events, which in 
time will flow from the principles which we hold and the 
Government which we have adopted, with what facility 
might it be hastened and accomplished by foreign bid. 
A Roman General boasted that an army would rise at 
the stamp of his foot. A British Standard displayed in 
the heart of the Southern States, proclaiming liberty to 
all men, of whatever color, with professions to maintain 
the equal rights of all, against the usurpations of any, 
would exceed in assembling an army, the celerity of the 
Roman General; an army too, to any amount that might 
be desired, composed of materials vastly superior to that 
by which the fate of the Republican form of Govern- 
ment of Rome was forever lost. That memorable bat- 
tle was fought in the decline of Roman virtue. The 
black man of our day and country is inured to every 
species of labor and fatigue. He possesses size, strength 
and patience, is submissive and obedient from habit, and 
when animated with the enabling spirit of liberty, would 
become indeed, a very formidable enemy. The recollec- 
tion of past injuries and the desire of revenge, so 
strongly planted in the human breast, would expose his 
enemy, the white master, to the most mortifying and 
cruel outrages. 

Against such an enemy whom should we oppose. The 
dread of degradation and motives of self preservation. 



27 

would justify me in counting upon the full exertions of 
the whites in the States alluded to; but what avail would 
that be against a formidable foreign foe and a still more 
terrible domestic one. Could we rely on the assistance 
of our Eastern Brethren. In this cause I fear not. 
They as individuals love liberty and justify it to all men. 
They like not that disproportion of wealth which arises 
from the labor of slaves. To what exertions they would 
go, under the faith, influence and engagements to which 
they would be bound by the General Government, I will 
not undertake to determine. 

Whenever I reflect on the numbers of these injured 
people and the eagerness with which they would embrace 
a foreign standard, I tremble for our Southern country. 
Under this view of their situation, it is madness to seek 
a war. It is bad enough when the safety of the country 
and the faith of solemn engagements imposes it upon us. 

That all the men with whom I have served did not 
feel and act as the representatives of an independent 
people is most certain. But the number of Mr. Clark's 
agents must be numerous indeed, from the apprehensions 
which you seem to entertain of foreign influence. Our 
public men very wisely regulate their opinions with a 
due regard to the sense of the people, and they are as yet 
steadfastly fixed in the paths of peace, and I sincerely 
hope will continue to walk therein, till the honor and 
safety of their country shall render a deviation both 
prudent and proper. 

Although there are naval powers against whom it is 
not in our ability to oppose an equal force yet, I think 
well of the good you are creating. It will generate as 
fast as our resources and they are more abundant than 
is generally acknowledged. I take it for granted that 



28 

the strength of the force against which your ships are 
to act has been accurately ascertained, and that they are 
adequate to the service to which they are destined. Al- 
though I hear little and see less of what is passing, I 
have nevertheless understood that the force of money is 
to be tried during the interval of maritime preparations. 
I wish its influence may prevail. 

Continue to send me the papers and believe me to be 
Very affectionately yours, 

John Henry. 



29 
Governor John Henry to General Smith. 



Annapolis, July 25th, 1798, 

Dear Sir: I wrote to you a few days ago. I am sat- 
isfied that you have done what you considered to be your 
duty respecting the orders which have been issued at 
various times by the Commander-in-Chief. 

I am really anxious that the militia should be placed 
on a respectable footing, and I assure you that nothing 
in my power shall be wanting. In my last letter I in- 
formed you that I should soon see you in Baltimore. I 
am now obliged to go first for a few days to the Eastern 
Shore. On my return I will see you, and if my visits to 
Baltimore can aid the cause of union and concord, I 
shall hasten to pay them. 

I really am so much of a Marylander that I find my 
pride not a little interested in seeing our militia at least 
equal to any in the Union; nay, better, in our capital 
city of Baltimore, the commercial prodigy of the age. 
I should rejoice to see the spirit of arms and discipline 
as preeminent as its commerce; and if you will consent 
to become the soul of such a system, we shall soon be as 
splendid in arms as in trade. Let no disgusts, however 
well-founded, induce you to withdraw from the civil or 
military service of your country. I have a list of the 
late military appointments of the new army. The order 
in which they stand may not be according to their rank; 
if it is, it surprises me. By a proper selection we might 
have a corps of oflficers in point of talents, experience, 
mental and personal accomplishments equal, I may say, 
with truth, superior to any in the world. 

I entreat you, by your orders and military spirit, to 
effect the drafts as soon as may be, although I have no 



30 

apprehension that they will be wanted, yet there are 
personal reasons, exclusive of the respect and obedience 
due to the orders of the President of the United States, 
which will occur to you, and which induces me to press 
for the returns of your division. 

Will the President call upon the States for their pro- 
portion or will they proceed by indiscriminate enlist- 
ments throughout the States to get the men for the new 
army? 

Do you suppose it will be an easy matter to procure 
by voluntary enlistments an army of fifty thousand 
men ? As far as my knowledge is connected with the 
state of population in the lower parts of the Eastern 
Shore, it leads me to think that it will be very difficult 
to get our proportion. We want that class of men, 
which, in the old kingdoms of Europe, are inclined to 
become common soldiers. 

There is lately published a book called The Monk, 
which I will thank you to procure for me. It is called 
also a novel, but I presume it is a political one. 

I am, dear sir, affectionately yours, 

John Henry. 



31 



Senator John Henry to Levin H. Campbell. 

Philadelphia, January 29th, 1776. 
Dear Sir: The inclosed letter will fully explain the 
state of your money matter in New York. I lament 
that the business has so far frustrated your present views. 
My health is so bad at present that I am unable to be 
more particular. 

I have just heard that my brother is at the point of 
death, which has filled me with the deepest sorrow and 
distress. I hope for the best, altho the interval of doubt 
will be full of anguish ; yet I have no expected relief, 
except from the return of the post, as my state of 
health and the distance puts it utterly out of my power 
to see him before an amendment or the fatal stroke is 
felt. His loss, and the precarious state of my own health, 
melts me into tears whenever I think of his and my 
own children. Continue to let me hear from you, and 
be sedulously attentive to your books. 

I am, with affection, yours, 

John Henry. 



32 

Senator John Henry to Levin H. Campbell. 

Philadelphia, Dec, 21, 1794. 
Dear Sir: Your favor of the 12th instant I received 
some days ago. I rejoice to hear that you have so for- 
tunately succeeded in getting into Mr, Ray's office. 

The necessary and incidental expenses attending the 
prosecution of your studies, being so considerable, will, I 
hope, be an additional inducement to excite your industry 
and attention. 

You will always remember that it depends solely upon 
yourself whether you make a figure in the world and in 
your profession, or sink into obscurity and insignificance. 

It is immaterial where or with whom you read, unless 
your attention is sedulously bestowed upon the subject 
before you. 

Time now well employed will render the profession 
easy and honorable to you, but if the present opportun- 
ity is lost or misapplied, it will be in vain to think of 
recovering the past. 

The first impression at the outset in life is of the first 
importance, and without knowledge in your profession, 
the prospect will be barren and hopeless, you will there- 
fore, I trust, for your own honor and interest, cherish 
every moment of your time. 

Your letter to Mr. Murdock I shall send this week by 
a vessel bound to London. I shall write to Mr. Mur- 
dock myself and express to him what I think most for 
your interest, 

I have had a most severe attack of the gout in the 
breast. I have not been out for more than three weeks. 
Tomorrow I shall go to the South. 



33 

If you have lately heard from my house, inform me 
how they all do. I have had no letters since I left home, 

I shall make constant inquiries how you spend your 
time, and I hope and believe they will afford me the 
highest pleasure. Having the sincerest desire for your 
prosperity, I feel an interest in all that relates to you. 

I am, dear sir, 
Yours, 

John Henry. 



34 



Senator John Henry to Levin H. Campbell. 



Philadelphia, Dec. 23, 1796. 

My Dear Sir : I hope the time will not occur when 
you will cease to feel the pleasure you now express in 
your correspondence. The sensibility of your heart is a 
pleasing and satisfactory return for the concern which 
I have always and still do take in whatever relates to 
your happiness and prosperity. 

The reform of the testamentary code is a subject of 
general concern. I fear, however, that the considera- 
tion of a single session will be found inadequate to this 
end. One mind would be better than many; the former 
might give a system which it would be wise to adopt; 
there is no probability that the latter would. Whatever 
you do, suffer it not to be done with too much haste. 
These perpetual changes set everything afloat; publish 
your system for general consideration, with also a spe- 
cial reference to judges and law officers for their opinion 
and amendment in writing. 

Humanity may require that some measures should be 
adopted respecting our jails ; at least, it has been so 
hinted to me. While men are liable to imprisonment, 
the place of confinement should be both safe and not 
unsuitable to health or life. Our jail is said to be liable 
to both these charges. If, upon consideration, repairs 
or a new one shall be thought necessary, let a tax be 
gradually levied upon the people. 



35 

The purchase of Dawson's house does not appear to be 
so necessary as to require haste; let it be thought of by 
the people, and, if found proper, money may be raised 
by degrees. 

The loan to the federal city seems to me proper. This 
object is of immense moment to the State, if the union 
continues and the course of things is in its favor ; if it 
should be otherwise, I trust it will be at so distant a 
period that the ascendency which the city will have 
gained will, by its being a great mart for the produce 
of the country, indemnify the State for this advance. 

My compliments to all my friends. Yours, 

John Henry. 



36 



Senator John Henry to His Overseer. 

To Will.: I approve of your writing to me, and ex- 
pect that you will continue to do so, when you have any- 
thing to inform me of, 

I am sorry to hear that Rock has been hurt, but I sup- 
pose that it was an accident, and we must make the best 
of it. It was very proper to get him to Mr. Isaac 
Henry's or home as soon as the weather and the wound 
would permit. Be attentive to your other horses and 
cattle. 

I hope you do not suffer anything to run on the wheat 
except when the ground is covered with snow. Have 
your corn stocks cut up and carted out for the cattle. 

The money that I left with Mr. Lewis will get the 
iron and vice from Baltimore as soon as the weather 
will admit. I will order some more iron to be sent from 
Baltimore by writing to Mr. Bailey. 

I shall endeavor to get iron traces here, but there will 
be no prospect of getting them to you as soon as you 
will want them. The river here is frozen as hard as 
iron itself and will continue for a long time. The 
wagons now go over it deep loaded as if it was the high 
road. 

As the quantity of pork is very short this year, you 
must tell the people who had hogs that they must not 
expect as much meat as those who had none, and enough 
must be kept to give the people of the Indian Town 
their allowance, if possible, as they had no opportunity 
to raise hogs. 



37 

As the winter is very dry, I am in hopes that you will 
be able to get a good deal of work done. Do not fail to 
get enough logs so that we may not have that work to do 
in the Summer. 

As the winter is very severe, unless Leah is attentive 
to the hogs and cattle, they must suffer. As I expect 
you to be active and to move quickly from place to place, 
you should always have a horse at hand, ready to ride 
whenever it shall be necessary and proper to do so. 

Job Robinson and his son-in-law were to get me a quan- 
tity of boards. When you see either of them inform 
them that I hope they will not fail to fulfill their 
promise. 

I am, with regard, 

John Henry. 
January 9, 1797. 



38 
Governor John Henry to Mr. Skinner Ennalls. 



Annapolis, June 8, 1798. 

Dear Sir: I thank you for your kindness in attend- 
ing to my little concerns and for the liberty you give 
me in calling upon you in future. 

Will you get me forty gallons of whiskey for my har- 
vest, and send it by the first safe vessel that goes to 
Nanticoke, to Mr. Alexander Smith in Vienna. 

A friend of mine got some within a few days from 
Mr. Askins at 4s. If the price of New England rum 
does not exceed 4s. 6d. be pleased to get that. 

Request Mr. Askins, or the person from whom you get 
it, to send the bill by the packet and the money shall be 
paid. 

Mr. Askins lives on Mr. Bowley's wharf. I will thank 
you to drop me a line. 

I am building a boat and wish to know the price of 
sail cloth and oakum. The boat will be rigged as a 
schooner, and the masts about forty-five feet. The sail 
maker can tell the quantity of canvass that will be 
wanted, also the quantity and size of the rope; also the 
length and size of the cable and the weight of the 
anchor. 

Upon these several things will you have the goodness 
to give me information. 

My sister and myself will be very happy to see you 
and Mrs. Ennalls, and I hope when your leisure and con- 
venience will suit, that you will call upon us. 

I am, dear sir, with the highest respect and esteem, 

Yours, 

John Henry. 



39 



Senator John Henry to (address illegible.) 



May 12th, 1794. 
Dear Sir: I wrote to you an hour ago. Since that 
time I have seen Mr, Randolph and put into his hands 
the papers which you inclosed to me. He will lay them 
today before the President. 

Mr. Jay certainly sails today from New York, so that 
the business, if it should be judged proper for diplomatic 
interference, cannot now go by him. Mr. Randolph is 
of opinion that it is proper for the Government to take 
up this business, should the President be of the same 
sentiment an instruction to Mr. Jay will be forwarded 
by the first opportunity. 

Mr. Randolph will be glad to see your former state- 
ment. Forward it to me as soon as it can be copied. 

I am, Sir, with great respect and esteem, 

Yours, 

John Henry. 



40 



Hon. Thomas Jefferson to Senator John Henry. 

Philadelphia, Dec. 31, 1797. 

Dear Sir: Mr. Tazavell has communicated to me 
the enquiries you have been so kind as to make relative 
to a passage in the notes on Virginia, which has lately 
excited some newspaper publications. I feel with great 
sensibility the interest you take in this business, and 
with pleasure go into explanations with one whose ob- 
jects I know to be truth and justice alone. Had Mr. 
Martin thought proper to suggest to me that doubts 
might be entertained of the transaction respecting 
Logan as stated in the notes on Virginia, and to enquire 
on what grounds the statement was founded, I should 
have felt myself obliged by the enquiry, have informed 
him candidly of the grounds, and cordially have co-oper- 
ated in every means of investigating the fact and cor- 
recting whatsoever in it should be found to have been 
erroneous, but he chose to step at once into the news- 
papers, and in his publications there, and the letters he 
wrote to me, adopted a style which forbade the respect 
of an answer; sensible, however, that no act of his 
could absolve me from the justice due to others, as 
soon as I found that the story of Logan could be doubted, 
I determined to enquire into it as accurately as the test- 
imony remaining after a lapse of twenty odd years 
would permit, and that the result should be made public, 
either in the first new edition which should be printed 
of the notes on Virginia, or by publishing an appendix 
to it. I thought that so far as the work had contributed 



41 

to impeach the memory of Cresap by handing on an er- 
roneous charge, it was proper that it should be made the 
vehicle of retribution; not that I was at all the author 
of the injury. 

I had only concurred with thousands and thousands of 
others in believing a transaction on authority which 
merited respect, for the story of Logan is only repeated in 
the notes on Virginia precisely as it had been current 
more than a dozen years before they were published, 
when Lord Dunmore returned from his expedition 
against the Indians in 1774, he and his officers brought 
the speech of Logan, and related the circumstances of 
it. These were so affecting, and the speech itself so fine 
a morsel of eloquence, that it became the theme of every 
conversation in Williamsbury, particularly and gener- 
ally, indeed, wheresoever any of the officers resided or 
resorted. I learned it in Williamsbury, I believe at Lord 
Dunmore's, and I find in my pocketbook of that year 
(1774) an entry of the narrative as taken from the 
mouth of some person whose name, however, was not 
noted nor recollected, precisely in the words stated in 
the Notes on Virginia. The speech was published in 
the Virginia Gazette of that time (I have it myself in 
the volume of Gazette's of that year), and though it was 
the translation made by the common interpreter, and in 
a style by no means elegant, it flew through all the pub- 
lic papers of the continent, and through the magazines 
and other periodical publications of Great Britain ; and 
those who were boys at that day will now attest that the 
speech of Logan used to be given them as a school exer- 
cise for repetition. It was not till about thirteen or 
fourteen years after the newspaper publications that the 
Notes on Virginia were published in America, combat- 
ting there the contumelious theory of certain European 



42 

writers, whose celebrity gave currency and weight to 
their opinions that our country, from the combined 
effects of soil and climate, degenerated animal nature 
in general, and particularly the moral faculties of man. 
I considered the speech of Logan as an apt proof of the 
contrary, and used it as such, and I copied verbatim the 
narrative I had taken down in 1774, and the speech as it 
had been given us, in a better translation by Lord Dun- 
more. I knew nothing of the Cresaps and could not 
possibly have a motive to do them an injury with design. 
I only repeated what thousands had done before, on 
as good authority as we have for most of the facts we 
learn through life, and such as to this moment I have 
seen no reason to doubt that anybody questioned it, was 
never suspected by me till I saw the letter of Mr. Martin 
in the Baltimore paper. I endeavored then to recollect 
who among my cotemporaries of the same circle of soci- 
ety, and consequently of the same recollections, might 
still be alive. Three and twenty years of death and 
dispersion has left very few. 

I remembered, however, that General Gibson was still 
living, and knew that he had been the translator of 
the speech. I wrote to him immediately; he, in an- 
swer declares to me that he was the very person sent 
by Lord Dunmore to the Indian town, that after he had 
delivered his message there, Logan took him out to a 
neighboring wood, sat down with him, and rehearsing 
with tears the catastrophe of his family, gave him that 
speech for Lord Dunmore, that he carried it to Lord 
Dunmore, translated it for him, has turned to it in the 
Encyclopedia as taken from the Notes on Virginia, finds 
that it was his translation I had used, with only two or 
three verbal variations of no importance, these I suppose 
had happened in the course of successive copies. I cite 



43 

General Gibson's letter by memory not having it with 
me, but I am sure I cite it substantially right, it estab- 
lishes unquestionably that the speech of Logan is genuine 
and that being established, it is Logan himself who is 
the author of all the important facts. Colonel Cresap, 
says he, in cold blood and unprovoked, murdered all the 
relations of Logan not sparing even my women and 
children, there runs not a drop of my blood in the veins 
of any living creature, the person and the fact in all its 
material circumstances, are here given by Logan him- 
self. General Gibson, says indeed, that the title was 
mistaken; that Cresap was a captain and not a colonel, 
this was Logan's mistake, he also observes that it was on 
a water of the Kanhaway and not the Kanhaway itself 
that his family was killed, this is an error which has 
crept into the traditional account; but surely of little 
moment in the moral view of the subject, the material 
question is was Logan's family murdered, and by whom? 
That it was murdered has not I believe been denied, 
that it was by one of the Cresaps, Logan affirms. This 
is a question which concerns the memories of Logan 
and Cresap, to the issue of which I am as indiffer- 
ent as if I had never heard the name of either. 
I have begun, and shall continue to inquire into the evi- 
dence, additional to Logan's, on which the fact was 
founded, little indeed can now be heard of, and that lit- 
tle dispersed and distant; if it shall appear, on inquiry, 
that Logan has been wrong in charging Cresap with the 
murder of his family, I will do justice to the memory of 
Cresap, as far as I have concurred in believing and re- 
peating what others had believed and repeated before 
me; if, on the other hand, I find that Logan was right 
in his charge, I will vindicate, as far as my suffrage may 
weigh, the truth of a chief whose talents and misfor- 



44 

tunes have attached to him the respect and commisera- 
tion of the world. I have gone, my dear sir, into this 
lengthy detail to satisfy a mind in the candor and recti- 
tude of which I have the highest confidence, so far as 
you may incline to use the communication for rectifying 
the judgments of those who are willing to see things 
truly as they are, you are free to use it, but I say that 
no confidence which you may repose in any one, may 
induce you to let it go out of your hands so as to get 
into a newspaper; against a contest in that field I am 
entirely decided. I feel extraordinary gratification in 
addressing this letter to you with whom shades of differ- 
ence in political sentiments have not prevented the in- 
terchange of good opinion, nor cut off friendly offices of 
society and good correspondence, this political tolerance 
is the more valued by me, who consider social harmony 
as the first of human facilities and the happiest mo- 
ments those which are given to the effusions of the 
heart, accept them sincerely, I pray you, from one who 
with sentiments of high respect and attachment has the 
honor to be, dear Sir, 

Your most obedient and humble servant, 

Thomas Jefferson. 



45 



Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, to John Henry. 

Annapolis, December 3d, 1792. 
Dear Sir: Last Friday the law disqualifying members 
of Congress from holding seats in our Legislature, &c., 
passed the Senate, myself and Mr. Worthington only 
voting in the negative. On the same day I resigned my 
seat in the Senate of the United States. Tomorrow my 
successor will be appointed. Three persons are men- 
tioned, Mr. Potts, James McHenry and Colonel Stone. 
Thus I have got rid of a trust which I really accepted 
with reluctance, and which, I assure you, hung heavy on 
my mind. I was mindful of the advice of Horace : 

"Solve senescentem mature sanus equum, 
Ne pecces ad extremum ridendus, et 
Ilia ducat." 

Our electors of the President and Vice-President are 
chosen : Hanson, J. E. Howard, Thomas S. Lee, Sam 
Hughes, Richardson, Ja. Seney, (two names illegible.) I 
forget the other two. It is said they will all vote in 
favor of Mr. John Adams. I should be sorry to see that 
gentlemen not chosen Vice-President. He was a patriot 
in the worst of times and has rendered his country 
signal services. He has not merited such a slight from 
his countrymen, as some are endeavoring, I fear, to 
throw upon him. The House of Delegates has rejected a 
militia bill originated in the Senate, the exact counter- 
part of the Act of Congress, and every bit as harmless. 
We went a great way in our exemption, for we exempted 
one-third of the militia from mustering; our bill hinted 



46 

at a rotatory militia, in which 1 tliink it was hotter than 
that of Cong'ress. if hetwoen two very bad tiling's, one 
may be lield to be better than tlie other. How g-oes on 
the enquiry into the faihnv of the expedition a^^'ainst the 
Indians? L^ the Secretary of the Treasury as nnich the 
subject of debate and conversation as during- the hist 
session? I beUeve our session will be protracted till 
near Xmas: we shall spend belween seven and eiuiu 
thousand pounds, and not do a sixpence worth of g'ood. 
Another insolvent debtors' bill: will the matter be taken 
up by C\>ng'ress? We shall have another assessment law. 
this is necessary from the iireat cliang'eof property since 
the last assessment. Its principle. 1 am ig-norant of, 
neither do I know whether a tax will be imposed. I be- 
lieve I mentioned in my former letter, that we (.lohnson. 
Forrest and myself) had settled the \'an Ohapports" claim. 

If anythiuii' new and interesting' turns up. drop me a 
line or two. Though not a player myself. I shall tind 
myself in the game that is played. 

With regard and respect. I remain. 

Pear Sir. your most humble servant. 

rilAKLKsCAKKOi-l.. of Carrolltou. 



47 



Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, to John Henry. 

Annapolis, Dec. 16th, 1792. 

Dear Siii: I received, the 14th instant, your favor of 
the 11th. Since my last we have received from the 
Mouse of Dele.t^-ates, the MiMtia and Assessment Rill. The 
latter does not lay any rate, only directs the mode of 
valuing property, appoints commissions, &c. The for- 
mer, the Militia Bill, we shall not pass in its present form. 

It subjects the whole of the fencible men between 
eighteen and forty-five years of age, amounting at least 
to thirty thousand, to muster four times a year in the 
companies, battalions or regiments. 

We propose to enroll in conformity to the Act of 
Congress all fencibles between eighteen and forty-five 
years of age, but then to direct the Government and 
Council only to muster three or four times a year a part 
of these (about five thousand) when so enrolled. I think 
the Act of Congress may be so construed as suffer us to 
throw such a clause into our militia bill. 

Rest assured the mustering so large a body of men 
as these will amount to, between eighteen and forty-five 
years of age throughout the United States, will be a very 
serious evil and felt as such when we come to experi- 
ence the consecjuences which will inevitably arise from 
such large assemblages of men, while waste of time and 
drunkenness will be the least pernicious of these conse- 
quences. 



48 

I fear as you do that our States will be found great- 
ly behind on a settlement of accounts, this fear always 
inclined me to assume the State debts, as reported by the 
Secretary and to have no settlement. 

I am confident you will be pleased with Mr. Potts 
on a better acquaintance, and the good opinion you now 
entertain of him will be increased in proportion to your 
personal knowledge of his character. 

Please to inform me, as soon as you can, what alter- 
ations of the judicial system are in contemplation, I 
have heard it rumored that the State Judges are to 
be made Judges of the United States within the juris- 
diction or boundaries of each State and the Supreme 
Court is to be sedentary at the seat of Congress. Such 
a system will never answer. 

Our Constitution militates against such an arrange- 
ment. By 30th section of our Declaration of Rights it is 
provided ''no chancellor, or judge ought to hold any 
other office civil or military of any kind? " Is not the 
office of Judges of the United States another office and 
distinct from that of Judge of this State? Again Section 
32 of Declaration of Rights says: " No person ought to 
hold at the same time more than one office of profit, nor 
ought any person," &c. 

Supposing an ingenious or prostitute lawyer could 
quibble away these sections so as to perplex and render 
doubtful what to common sense is plain and obvious, 
our late law, which is now become a part of our Consti- 
tution, puts the thing beyond all dispute. No person hold- 
ing an office under the United States can now hold an 
office under this State, so that the acceptance of a com- 
mission of Judge of the United States would vacate the 
commission or office of judge of this State. 



49 

It gives me pleasure to hear that Mr. Adams will be 
elected Vice-President by a considerable majority. I 
beg my respects to that gentleman; we have served to- 
gether in hard times, and I set a great value on his ser- 
vices, and I feel a sincere regard for all who stood firm 
in the most dangerous and critical situation of our 
affairs. When I think of those times the time of trial 
always occurs to me. 

I forgot to send to the post office last night to see 
whether there were any letters from you. I am afraid 
this will be too late for this day's post, however, I shall 
send it to the postoffice. With sentiments of respect and 
regard, I am, 

Charles Carroll, of Carrollton. 



50 



Gen. J. E. Howard to Senator John Henry. 

Philadelphia, June 29, 1792. 

Dear Sir : Several vessels have arrived at the Fort 
from the ports in St. Domingo which have lately been 
evacuated by the British, with passengers; among them 
are a number of negroes who it is said have been trained 
in the use of arms, and have some arms in their posses- 
sion. The report that three or four thousand have em- 
barked for this continent has excited much uneasiness, 
and a bill offered in and will pass the Senate to prohibit 
their landing in United States. These people having 
joined the British were afraid of falling into the power 
of the French and have come to this country for an asy- 
lum, but at this time it seems highly improper to suffer 
them to land, especially the negroes, who are slaves and 
attached to their masters. I suppose they will be sent to 
Halifax where it is said the British offered to make pro- 
vision for them, but they preferred this climate. Some 
of the captains report that the British forced them to 
take these people on board their vessels, but that is 
doubted ; however, suppose they have been paid for 
bringing them. Among the passengers is a Colonel 
Armand, who served in our Army. 

Supposing that some of the vessels which are ex- 
pected to arrive will come into the Chesapeake, I have 
thought it necessary to give you this information. 

A resolution which has passed the House of Represen- 
tatives is now before the Senate for adjourning the two 



51 

houses on the 9th July; it is not certain that the Senate 
will agree to the resolution, as several important bills 
are now before them; however, I hope we shall not be 
detained here much longer, as the weather is becoming 
very hot, and I am not well. 

We have no kind of news from Europe. I am, with 
the highest respects. 

Your obedient servant, 

J. E. Howard. 



52 



Gen. J. E. Howard to Senator John Henry. 



Philadelphia, July 3d, 1792. 

Dear Sir: No proposition has been made in the 
Senate for declaring war against France, nor have I any 
information that such a motion is intended, though 
some of the members have expressed opinions in favor 
of such a measure. Some members of the other house 
are also known to be in favor of it, but other federal 
members are against it. I understand that it is a sub- 
ject of conversation among the members out of doors, 
and if it is moved this session it will be tomorrow or 
next day. The argument most urged in favor of it is 
that our own citizens who may aid and assist the French 
will not be guilty of treason unless there is a declara- 
tion of war. The committee to whom General Lloyd's 
bill, to define and punish treason and sedition, was re- 
ferred, reported in substance a new bill, a copy of which 
as it passed the Senate today, to a third reading, I 
enclose. 

A bill has passed the House of Representatives for 
granting letters of marque against French armed vessels 
which you will see in the enclosed paper. 

The bill which passed the Senate to prohibit and regu- 
late the landing of French passengers has, by the House 
of Representatives, been postponed to the next session. 

The accounts we had of those who lately arrived 
in this country were greatly exaggerated as well with 
respect to their numbers as to their dispositions; how- 



53 

ever, I think it is a misfortune to have any of them in the 
country. Many of these have been in arms with the 
British, but if France will offer them an amnesty, I 
have little doubt of the most of them accepting it and 
taking part against us. 

I wish there was an entire prohibition to the negroes 
being brought into the country. 

The bill for the valuation of houses and land has 
passed and the bill for laying a direct tax of two mil- 
lions of dollars is now before the Senate. 

The resolution of the House of Representatives for 
adjourning the 9th instant, is still before the Senate. 
I doubt whether we shall break up on that day, but hope 
we shall not be detained here more than a day or two 
after the time proposed for adjourning. 

We have had reports of the yellow fever being in the 
city, but I believe they are greatly exaggerated if they 
are not entirely groundless. It seems to be generally 
agreed that one man died yesterday, or the day before, 
of a billious complaint with some of the symptoms of 
the yellow fever. 

General Washington is appointed a Lieutenant Gene- 
ral to command all the armies. I have not been able to 
ascertain whether he has given any reason to expect he 
will serve. 

Livingston's motion respecting negotiation with the 

French, which, without doubt, was not introduced with 

the best motives, has been rejected, several members 

who upon most occasions vote with him, being against it. 

I am, dear Sir, with great regard. 

Your obedient servant, 

J. E. Howard. 



54 



Gen. J. E. Howard to Senator John Henry. 



Annapolis, Dec. 6th, 1792. 
Dear Sir : Expecting that you are desirous of know- 
ing how the electors in this State, for choosing a Presi- 
dent and Vice-President of the United States, voted, I 
have the pleasure of informing you that only eight 
electors attended, and that G. Washington and John 
Adams had each eight votes. 

If any regard is to be paid to reports, a great opposi- 
tion has been made in some of the States to Mr. Adams' 
re-election, but I trust that if any attempt has been 
made to put him out it has failed. The sentiments of 
the people of this State have been fully expressed by 
their electors. 

Mr. Carroll has resigned his seat in the Senate of the 
United States, and this day is appointed for choosing a 
person in his place. Mr. Potts and Colonel Stone are the 
persons proposed to be ballotted for. My own opinion 
is that the former will be elected. 

I am, your obedient servant, 

J. E. Howard. 



55 



Oliver Walcott, Esq., Secretary of Treasury, Phila- 
delphia, to Senator John Henry. 



Philadelphia, April 16th, 1795. 
My Dear Sir: I have to acknowledge and thank you 
for your obliging favor of the 3d instant, and though I 
am concerned to hear of the continuance of your indis- 
position, I cannot but hope that the present favorable 
season will even re-establish your health. 

I am sorry to find that the anticipations which I re- 
luctantly formed of Mr. Muir's situation are confirmed. 
I have thereupon supposed it to be my duty to advise 
the Comptroller to institute a suit; the attorney, how- 
ever, will be instructed in case Mr. Muir's property is 
deemed sufficient to meet the debt, not to trouble the 
sureties. I presume, therefore, there can be no occa- 
sion for you to feel anxiety in respect to any personal 
responsibility as a surety. I shall regard your present 
communication as confidential, and shall be glad to re- 
ceive from you any intimations in future, to which I 
shall not fail to pay attention. 

Immediately after the arrival of the treaty it was 
determined that the contents ought to remain entirely 
secret until the meeting of the Senate. I believe that 
no persons except the President and the Secretary of 
State are yet informed of one syllable that the treaty 
contains. I may, however, with propriety say to you 
that Colonel Trumbull, Mr. Jay's secretary, informs me 
that in his opinion the terms are honorable and advan- 



56 

tageous, and such as might have been with propriety 
accepted, after a successful war. These several expres- 
sions, with the confidence arising from the known pru- 
dence and ability of our envoy, induce me to expect 
that the treaty will be satisfactory to the candid and 
intelligent minds of our country. I sincerely hope that 
the public will be availed of your opinion upon this in- 
teresting subject at the meeting of the Senate. 

With sentiments of perfect respect and affection, 
I am, dear sir, your obedient servant, 

Olie Walcott. 
The Honorable John Henry, Esq. 



57 



Gen. S. Smith to Gov. John Henry. 

Baltimore, Oct. 23d, 1798. 
Sir: I am indebted for many of your letters which 
want of time and years' absence has prevented me from 
answering. The idea of a loan of money on common 
interest is not practicable I believe in this city. Money 
is now worth from three to five per cent, per month. 

You expressed a wish to be informed when the next 
review would be made here, I am only yesterday in- 
formed that General Juam's Brigade will be reviewed on 
Monday next. Perhaps your state of health may permit 
you to attend and review in person, if it should, you will 
gratify the brigade and be gratified with the sight of 
about one thousand men in uniform and armed. 

My election is gained, but my character has been sub- 
jected to an immensity of calumny, some of which will 
probably adhere to me forever. I have been sorely 
vexed by men with whom I have heretofore been in the 
habit of intimacy. A coolness must ever subsist among 
us and tend to make my time less pleasant than form- 
erly. It has completly sickened me with public life, but 
there is now no retreat for 

Your friend and servant, 

S. Smith. 



58 



Gov. J. H. Stone to Senator John Henry. 

Annapolis, Feb. 9, 1795. 
Dear Sir : Your friend Dr. Coates was appointed 
Regester of the Land Office for the Eastern Shore, and 
I am much pleased to say that in appearance it has 
made him a very happy man. 

We are all alive here to be informed of the particu- 
lars of the treaty made by Mr. Jay, when it is disclosed, 
and all other interesting subjects. I shall consider my- 
self very much obliged by your communicating them to 
doctor. 

Your friend and humble servant, 

J. H. Stone. 



59 



Benjamin Rush to Hon. John Henry. 

Philadelphia, Oct. 8th, 1788. 
Dear Sir: The bearer, Dr. Ruston, has business with 
your Legislature. He was one of the friends of my 
youth, and after a connection with him in that capacity 
for nearly thirty years, I can truly say I have known few 
better men. 

During the late war he defended the claims of his na- 
tive country in England with so much zeal as to expose 
himself to persecution. 

His letters to me in the beginning and after the close 
of the war breathe the highest degrees of the American 
Whig spirit. 

Your attention to the doctor's claims will much oblige, 
dear sir, 

Your most sincere friend, 

Benjamin Rush. 



60 



Hon. W. Vans Murray to Senator John Henry. 

Philadelphia, March 22, 1794. 

Dear Sir: The agitation of the public mind has been 
very high here since the knowledge of the last dishon- 
est order of the British Cabinet, for it deserves no 
softer name. 

When Mr. P. had his last communicated conversa- 
tion with Lord Glenville, he (Lord G.) said everything 
that the most cordial friendship could have dictated as 
to the general state of the United States, their pros- 
perity or his Majesty's pleasure at their great progress, 
and at this very time of gratulation the secret and mys- 
terious order had been dispatched for execution in the 
West Indies. The mystery observed is one of the 
strongest evidences of their expectation that we shall 
go to war, as they, thus to avail themselves of our un- 
suspecting, march to seize all they can get. A judge of 
Jamaica indeed says the word " adjudication " is not 
equivalent to " condemnation," but the facts are against 
them. In truth their islands are a nest of rogues and 
of armed and licensed pirates. So universal was the 
sweep made that very few or none of the home or out- 
bound vessels have escaped. It is true that one day has 
regularly contradicted another as to the truth of par- 
ticulars, but I believe it is certain the order is now con- 
sidered as a warrant to condemn. 

The conduct of the people of this country has per- 
haps given some cause to excite jealousy in the com- 
bined powers, but the Government is not in one single 
measure implicated, either in avowed acts or inertness 
as to doubtful ones, except in one instance, viz.: Mr. 
Jefferson's admission (in his admirably well-written 



letter to Mr. Morris) thac the Government had permitted 
prizes to be sold in our ports, and he makes a minute of 
this, assuming that it is more than the treaty calls for. 
I have never heard this remarked on by any one of the 
British, and I am surprised at it, but I dare say it will 
be among our avowed departures from neutrality. 

We yesterday took a question on embargo, a general 

one. I was in a minority of 45 to 48. It was (this 

word illegible) from the supposition that the President 
could better do it, and on Monday will be reviewed Sed- 
wick's motion to give the President power generally and 
particularly, and it must be carried. I hope so. The 
British are loading away at a great rate. I thought a 
general embargo would secure our own ships, and would 
not accelerate war, because not discriminating would 
secure the property now here from export, would de- 
prive the British of supplies, and would be a good cau- 
tionary measure if war should come on soon, and by the 
period we wished to give it, would enable us to judge 
better whether war be likely or not. While we say we 
are neutral we cannot discriminate by embargo; the ag- 
gressions are fair objects for us to consider whether we 
shall yet remain neutral till it be decided that we shall 
remain neutral no longer. Any measure that is an open 
abandonment of neutrality would lead to war, and it is 
pretty well agreed that to afford supplies to one and not 
another party at war is a partiality inconsistent with 
neutrality. Goods will rise here; brown sugar 5.10 cwt. 

Mr. Elsworth is very anxious for your arrival, which 
I told him would be the last of this or the first week of 
next month. I rejoice at your established health, and 
am, dear sir, sincerely and affectionately yours, 

W. V. Murray. 



62 

Mr. Isaac Henry to Hon. John Henry. 

Nanticoke, January 10th, 1793. 
Dear Sir: I am now at your house and find your 
family very well. Your little boys are pert and prat- 
tling. I heard Master John a lesson this morning, he 
begins to have an idea of spelling. 

I spoke to Mr. William Dodd, the schoolmaster in my 
neighborhood, upon the subject you requested me, he in- 
formed me that he could attend your children and in- 
struct them in the house, and said he would wait upon 
me sometime in February and talk further about it. If 
you incline to engage him perhaps you had better write 
me what sum you think you could give him. Both Mr. 
Winder and myself believe he will answer your views 
for the instruction of your children better than any other 
character we know— shall be glad to hear from you if 
you are disposed to secure him, before he is otherways 
engaged. What charming weather ! No snow as yet 
and but little frost. The air feels like May, and the 
ground and fields as fit for the reception of the plow as 
in the summer season. 

I should have written to Miss Ragg before now and in- 
closed it to you, but Mr. McBryde's ship, it is expected, 
will sail for Glasgow in March and I shall improve that 
opportunity. The success of the French I suppose gave 
joy to the friends of liberty and equality. I wish their 
prosperity may continue. Kitty says she believes she 
made a mistake and did not send the measure of her 
foot, but it is now inclosed. I wish you health and 
tranquility, and, am yours, with great esteem, 

Isaac Henry. 

(Endorsement on back.) The Hon. John Henry, Philadelphia. 



63 



Miss Matilda Henry to Senator John Henry. 



February 13th, 1795. 

Honored and Affectionate Uncle: I saw a letter 
you wrote papa, wherein you were so kind as to request 
me to send you the length of my foot. I have enclosed 
it. I shall always have a heart beating with affection- 
ate gratitude for your attentions to me. I will endeavor 
to deserve them more, and as I grow older try to fashion 
my conduct so as to please you and gain your love. We 
are all very well, but we are very happy to hear of your 
health. We were extremely uneasy about you before 
you wrote to papa. I have lately heard that my little 
cousins, your sons, are well, and the rest of your family. 
My warmest wish is for your health and happiness. 
I am, your affectionate niece, 

Matilda Henry. 

N. B.— I have taken the liberty of sending my sister's 
measure. M. H. 



64 



OFFICIAL PAPERS. 



Qualifications Required for Governors of Maryland 

in 1777. 

The Constitution of Maryland in 1777 made the fol- 
lowing provisions for the election of its Governor : 

" Sec. 25. That a person of wisdom, experience and 
virtue shall be chosen Governor on the second Monday 
of November, 1777, and on the second Monday forever 
thereafter, by the joint ballot of both Houses," etc. 

"Sec. 30. That no person unless above twenty-five 
years of age, a resident in the State above five years 
next preceding the election, and having in the State real 
and personal property above the value of £5,000 cur- 
rent money, £1,000 thereof at least to be of freehold 
estate, shall be eligible as Governor." 



65 



John Henry Elected Governor. 

Record of House of Delegates, November 13th, 1797 : 

" Gentlemen of the Senate : We have received your 
message and are ready to proceed in the election of a 
Governor, as proposed by you. John Henry, Esq., is put 
in nomination by this House. 

'' W. Harwood, Clerk." 

The Clerk of the Senate delivers following message: 

" Gentlemen of the House: We have received your 
message and are ready to proceed in the election of a 
Governor, as proposed by you. No gentleman is nomi- 
nated in this House in addition to John Henry, Esq. 

" A. Van Horn, Clerk." 

" The House having qualified agreeably to the Consti- 
tution proceeded to the choice of a Governor, and the 
ballots being deposited in the ballot box, the gentlemen 
named to strike retired, and after some time reported 
that the Hon. John Henry was unanimously elected. 

" The President of the Senate and Speaker of the 
House, by joint letter, notified Mr. Henry of his election 
on November 14th, 1797." 



66 



John Henry Takes the Oath as Governor of 
Maryland. 



Maryland Senate, November 28th, 1797. 
" Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, and Littleton Dennis, 
Esqs,, from the Senate, acquaint the Speaker that the 
Senate requests his attendance, with the members of 
the House of Delegates, in the Senate room, to see the 
Governor qualify. 

" The Speaker left the chair, and, attended by the 
members of his House, went to the Senate room and 
saw his Excellency qualify in the presence of both 
Houses, by subscribing the declaration, taking the sev- 
eral oaths required by the Constitution and form of 
Government, the oath of office directed to be taken by 
Act of Assembly, and the oath to support the Constitu- 
tion of the United States. 

" The Speaker, with the members, returned and re- 
sumed the chair." 



67 



Letter of Acceptance of John Henry. 



House of Delegates, November 22d, 1797. 
The Speaker laid before the House the following letter: 
To the Honorable John Chesley, President of the Sen- 
ate, and the Honorable William Thomas, Speaker of the 
House of Delegates. 

Gentlemen: I have this moment received by an ex- 
press your polite letter in which you announce to me 
the late appointment of Governor. The various in- 
stances in which I have experienced through a political 
life of twenty years, the confidence and attention of 
my fellow-citizens, excites my gratitude and receives 
my warmest acknowledgments. 

I beg of you honorable gentlemen, on my behalf, to 
communicate in the most respectful manner to the Leg- 
islature my acceptance of the appointment which their 
confidence and goodness have conferred upon me. 

I shall set out in a few days and expect to be in 
Annapolis in the course of next week. 

With all becoming duty and respect for the two Houses 
over which you preside, I have the honor to be, gentle- 
men, with sentiments of respect and esteem. 

Your obedient servant, 

John Henry. 
November 17, 1797. 



68 



Address of His Excellency, John Henry, Governor 
of the State of Maryland, to the Legis- 
lature of Maryland. 



Council Chamber, November 7th, 1798. 
Gentlemen: In communicating the enclosed address 
from the Executive, an opportunity is afforded of ex- 
pressing to the Legislature respectfully and concisely 
some sentiments on certain subjects which appear im- 
portant to the peace and welfare of the people. 

It is now obvious to all that the conduct of the French 
nation would long before this time have justified an 
open and direct state of hostilities. The love of peace 
has hitherto restrained the authorities of the Union 
from such a state of things. 

How long it will continue to do so is not within our 
province to determine. The uncertainty renders it pru- 
dent to be prepared for the worst; and notwithstanding 
the defense of the Union is wisely by the Constitution 
intrusted to the General Government, yet no one can 
deny the propriety and importance at all times of a 
sincere and vigorous co-operation. 

We are taught by the Constitution to rely upon the 
militia for our general defense. 

On sudden emergencies it is certainly our only re- 
source; it is, therefore, at all times important, but espe- 
cially now, to place them on the most respectable foot- 
ing. 



69 

My duty for the last twelve months has called me, in 
conjunction with the Council, often to deliberate on this 
subject, and it would be criminal in this crisis of our 
public affairs to withhold from the Legislature its de- 
rangements and imbecility. 

In various parts of the State a spirit of patriotism 
has displayed itself, and the zeal and intelligence of the 
officers have surmounted the defects of the system, but 
such temporary results are not to be relied on. The 
safety of a community ought not to depend upon the 
voluntary effusions of a few patriotic men. The law 
must govern and invigorate the whole mass. To answer 
this important and necessary purpose, it is indispensable 
that it be revised in all its parts, and ample powers given 
to produce order, discipline and obedience. 

All men are now satisfied of the propriety of putting 
the country in a complete state of defense; and in case 
of actual war, or a remote expectation of it, it would 
be unbecoming the wisdom of the Legislature to trust 
the peace and safety of the country to this present weak 
and defective system. Menaced as we are from abroad 
by a brave, intelligent and enterprising nation, this sub- 
ject is all-important; and in the deliberations of the 
Legislature all others ought to yield to it as of inferior 
moment. 

Attached to this subject is the condition of our arse- 
nals. Their present state, and the conduct of past Leg- 
islatures, would induce a belief that they really consid- 
ered themselves as exempt in all future time from the 
calamities of war. 

Arms and ammunition are indispensable in times of 
profound peace— a certain proportion of both are proper 
— it is peculiarly so now; and while it is possible that 



70 

our altars or social happiness may not in any degree 
depend on these things, no rational man can doubt what 
course to pursue. 

It appears important that the earliest and most unre- 
mitted attention of the Legislature should be bestowed 
on these subjects and a supply of both speedily procured. 

Expenditures on these articles are not lost; they are 
of a double nature, and if from a display of animated 
and united councils, together with vigorous preparations 
for war, we should fortunately escape the present deso- 
lating scene, which is now laying waste the fairest por- 
tion of Europe, still they w\\ be useful on future occa- 
sions. 

How Much the Peace and Safety of a Country De- 
pend ON A Prepared Condition for War. 

It was greatly desired by the Executive to complete 
the quota of men under the last call of the President 
of the United States. Orders from the Commander-in- 
Chief, before I came into office, and since, have been 
often but effectually repeated. It was finally deter- 
mined to send the Adjutant-General to various parts of 
the State to try the effect of his official influence and 
exertions. Various returns were procured in conse- 
quence of this measure, but the business is still incom- 
plete, and will continue to be so till the system is radi- 
cally improved. By those who are best acquainted with 
military subjects, an Adjutant-General's office, upon a 
respectable footing, is essential. His residence ought 
to be at the seat of government, and his emoluments 
adequate to a suitable maintenance in revising the mili- 
tia system. This subject will, no doubt, receive due 
attention. 



71 

It is with great deference that I call your serious at- 
tention to these important measures of defense; it may 
be thought unbecoming in an individual to press what 
is so obvious to the understanding of all. I shall, how- 
ever, rely upon the seriousness of the times, the great 
deficiency of all military articles, the solicitude which 
a high public officer may be permitted to express for 
the general welfare, and, above all, the dangerous and 
embarrassing imbecility, as well as the utter insuffi- 
ciency of the militia system, for my justification. 

It was early foreseen that the principles upon which 
our Constitution was originally founded, and the spirit 
of the times, would have a discomposing influence on 
the minds of a certain species of property among us. 

To these powerful and operating causes have been 
added the establishment of certain self-created socie- 
ties; the practices of individuals among some religious 
orders of men have also combined to hasten this pre- 
diction; its effects are now in operation and daily felt, 
and the magnitude of the evil calls for all the aid and 
circumspection which is in the power of the Legislature 
to exercise. 

The delicacy of this subject renders it inexpedient to 
descend to particulars. It appears, however, not im- 
proper to remark that while the laws of a great portion 
of the Union countenance this kind of property, self- 
created societies and individuals of certain religious 
orders of men among us ought not, of their own motion 
and without authority, to set up their own judgment in 
opposition to the settled order of things. 

The height to which these matters are carried by in- 
dividuals in some of the neighboring States call for a 
speedy remedy. 



72 

A candid representation from the highest authority 
in the State, or a deputation from the two Houses, would 
no doubt produce salutary effects, both on public bodies 
and private individuals. 

As to those classes of men among ourselves, and who 
reside within the limits of the State, the laws can be 
framed to reach their delinquencies. The propriety of 
bestowing early and serious attention on this subject is, 
with great deference, submitted to your consideration. 

An early practice, now sanctioned by a positive law, 
requires the Chief Magistrate, in cases where a sentence 
of death is passed, to issue a warrant for the execution 
of the criminal. Trials of this kind are often remote 
from the seat of government, where the parties and the 
circumstances attending their cases are wholly unknown 
to the Governor; it is difficult, however ardently it may 
be desired, to procure impartial information, and it can 
seldom be had except from the judges themselves. 

A record is forwarded to the executive containing a 
naked sentence of death. Is it possible in such a case 
that he can exercise with due deliberation the authority 
with which he is constitutionally invested? Can he in- 
tuitively determine whether it is proper to execute or 
meliorate the sentence of the law? The difficulty is felt. 
It is thought and humbly suggested, that the judges 
before whom the trial is had, ought to be enjoined, 
either to state the circumstances of the case and the de- 
portment of the criminal or to express their opinion on 
the propriety of executing or of extending mercy to the 
criminal. 

Since the Legislature was last assembled, some resolu- 
tions have been received from the State of Massachu- 
setts, respecting the dangerous tendency of foreign 



73 

influence, and proposing an alteration in the Constitu- 
tion of the United States in this respect, which are now 
submitted to your consideration. 

No one will seriously contend that there is any physi- 
cal virtue in the spot of earth which first gave us birth, 
and yet all will readily acknowledge that without the 
exercise of our reason, and, indeed, independently of it, 
it produces a predominant affection and preference in 
its favor, which no time, nor scarcely any circumstances 
will eradicate, and from hence arise the exclusion of 
foreignors from the affairs of nations to which they are 
not allied by their birth. 

The experience of our own times, and the history of 
past ages, equally assure us of the propriety and truth 
of this practice. 

That philosophy, however flattering to the pride of 
human nature, which teaches men to look upon them- 
selves as citizens of the world, and who, when they are 
asked where their country lies, will point with their fin- 
gers to the Heavens, is too loose and universal for the 
present age and will forever endanger the firmest 
structure which human ingenuity can devise. 

The country from which we derive our origin, and in- 
deed all the kingdoms of Europe with which we are 
best acquainted, have, from the most remote antiquity, 
fostered this passion. It has, in some degree, contrib- 
uted to their grandeur and security. It is, therefore, no 
wonder that the prejudices of education should be put 
on its side, and the mind early impressed with its truth 
and importance. 

Seeing then how guarded most nations have been upon 
this subject, and testing the truth of it by the short ex- 
perience which we ourselves have had, we have sufficient 



74 

reason to be satisfied that it is either too late or too 
early to support such systems of liberality. However 
exalted the virtue or distinguished the talents of an in- 
dividual may be, and however worthy of public confi- 
dence, yet it is nevertheless true that in general it is un- 
wise to trust the high concerns of a nation to men not 
born within its limits. 

My own mind has long been satisfied on this subject, 
and it appears salutary to carry the Massachusetts re- 
solves into effect. 

By a resolution of both Houses, the Governor was di- 
rected to transmit a copy of our laws to the executive of 
each State. This desirable measure I was not able to 
execute, from the impossibility of procuring the acts of 
some sessions. It was thought, therefore, advisable to 
wait till a complete copy could be procured. 

I was early made sensible of the propriety of passing 
an order in favor of Charlotte Hall School. This fos- 
tering care of the Legislature, while it does honor to the 
individuals concerned, is most useful to the country at 
large ; and, if I may be permitted to express an opinion, 
there is no subject on which the public money can be so 
usefully expended as on institutions similar to Charlotte 
Hall School, which brings a certain part of a liberal edu- 
cation within the resources of men of moderate fortunes. 

From an early period of my life I have participated 
in the councils of my country, and it is not without re- 
luctance that I now separate myself from them ; and 
this, indeed, I cannot well do without looking back upon 
the various and interesting scenes which have passed, 
and of expressing with gratitude and great respect my 
obligations to my fellow citizens. My heart and its best 



75 

affections are devoted to their happiness, and will con- 
tinue to the end of my life. 

Should my name, therefore, be presented to you for 
the purpose of again filling the station which I now enjoy, 
you will be pleased not to receive it, as it is my deter- 
mination to become a private citizen. 

I have the honor to be, with sentiments of great re- 
spect, your obedient servant, 

John Henry. 

The Honorable the General Assembly. 



76 



The Answer of the House of Delegates to Gov- 
ernor Henry's Address. 



The Hon. John Henry, Esq.: 

Sir: The House of Representatives of the State of 
Maryland has received your communications on several 
interesting subjects which merit and will command their 
attention. 

The peculiar situation of our country requires the 
utmost vigilance and energy. Of course our militia 
system will undergo a serious revision, for it is a deep 
and solemn truth, never to be departed from in repub- 
lican governments, that their ultimate security rests on 
a well organized, prompt and disciplined militia. Con- 
nected with this subject we feel the necessity of attend- 
ing to the situation of our arms and arsenals. 

That species of property existing amongst us, to 
which you have with equal delicacy and propriety re- 
ferred, shall not escape our consideration, and every at- 
tention will be paid to the separate objects recommended 
in your communication, and more particularly the Mas- 
sachusetts resolves, the principle of which is of the 
utmost political consequence, and will most probably be 
adopted so far as is consistent with acquired and exist- 
ing rights. 

In reply to your observations respecting the order in 
favor of Charlotte Hall School, we cannot but concur 
with you, that institutions for the instruction of youth 



11 

merit, in a peculiar manner, our attention, and that the 
public money cannot be expended in any way more use- 
ful to the community than in placing the benefits of 
light and knowledge and their consequences, rational 
liberty, good morals and religion, within the resources 
of men of moderate fortunes. 

We have heard with regret your determination to re- 
tire from public life, and sincerely believe that you will 
carry with you the consolation of an upright and virtu- 
ous heart and the grateful sense of your countrymen for 
more than twenty years' honorable and meritorious serv- 
ices in the highest offices in the power of the State or 
its citizens to confer. We sincerely wish you health, 
peace and happiness. 



PART II. 




HENRY COAT OF ARMS 



81 



A MEMOIR 

OF 

Governor John Henry, 

Willi 

Some Account of His Genealogy and Descendants. 



Nf)TK. Much of this is copied from "A Hric^f Memoir" of him, 
written l>y his j^randson, the Hon. Daniel M. Henry, in February, 1887, 
with additions and some corrections. 



Of his paternal ancestors, the first who immigrated 
to this country was the Rsv. John Henry, a Presbyterian 
minister, "who, it is said, stood high, not only as a divine, 
but as a citizen." He graduated at Edinburgh, Scotland, 
February 24, 1703, and was ordained by the Presbytery 
of Dublin, Ireland, and came to this country shortly 
afterwards. 

He was called to Kehobeth Church, in Somerset 
county, Maryland, from Philadelphia, Pa., about 1710 
(succeeding the Rev. Francis McCamie, who, it is 
claimed, was the first Presbyterian minister who came 
to this country), where he continued to reside as the 
minister of the Rehobeth Church until his death, in 1717. 

Several years after his settlement at Rehobeth, he 
married Mary Jenkins, the widow of Col. Francis 
Jenkins. He, having no children, gave her by his will 



82 

what in those days was considered an immense estate. 
Her maiden name was King. ** She was the daughter 
of Sir Robert King, an Irish baronet," and is known by 
tradition and in the pubHc records of Somerset county, 
Maryland, as Madam Hampton (having married after 
the death of Mr, Henry the Rev. John Hampton, also a 
Presbyterian minister.) **' She was an accomplished 
woman of many virtues, and was sometimes called a 
great woman." She had no children, except by the 
marriage with Mr. Henry, by whom she left two sons, 
Robert Jenkins Henry and John Henry, At the time of 
their father's death they were both quite young, and he 
speaks of them in his will as his "dear babes," and ap- 
pointed his brother-in-law, Col. Robert King, and his 
friend Ephraim Wilson, "their counsellors and guar- 
dians." Their mother survived her last husband a num- 
ber of years, and died in 1744. She is buried at Hamp- 
ton, the family seat, near Rehobeth, on the Pocomoke 
river, Somerset county, Maryland, and is described upon 
her tomb as " Lady Mary Hampton." 

Both of these sons afterwards became prominent and 
important citizens and took an active part in public 
affairs. 

Robert Jenkins Henry, the eldest son, was naval offi- 
cer for Pocomoke District, and for some years a member 
of Lord Baltimore's Council. His wife was Gertrude 
Rousby, a sister of Mrs. Edward Lloyd (the third Ed- 
ward). They left numerous descendants, who are now 
living in Maryland and elsewhere, and hereafter men- 
tioned in " Memoranda of Wills, in Somerset county, by 
Judge Upshur Dennis," He died in November, 1766, 

* From History of Presbyterian Church, by Irving Spence, page 
97, chapter 55. 




POKOTHV KlUKK, NEK HUTCHINS. 



83 

John, the youn^'cr son, known ;is ('ol. John Henry, held 
numerous i)laces of i)uhh'c trust, and was a gentleman 
of wealth and refinement. He married Dorothy Rider, 
dauit^hter of Col. John Rider. 

('ol. John Rider was the maternal grandfather of Gov. 
John Henry, and was the only son of John Rider, of 
England, and Dorothy, the only daughter of Col. Charles 
Hutchins. 

Colonel Hutchins, the great-grandfather of Governor 
Henry on the materal side, was one of the early settlers 
of Dorchester county, and displayed great judgment in 
selecting and securing large tracts of valuable land. 

He was for many years one of their Majesties' Coun- 
cil for the Maryland Colony (during the reign of King 
William and (^ueen Mary); was also commissioned to 
treat with the Indians, and atone time Colonel of militia. 
He accumulated wealth and built the large brick house 
at '* Weston " on the Nanticoke river, which afterwards 
became the homestead of the John Henry branch of the 
Henry family. His daughter Dorothy was sent to Eng- 
land to be educated, and after the completion of her 
studies he was anxiously awaiting her return. In those 
days there was considerable direct trade between Vienna, 
on the Nanticoke river (six miles above Weston), and 
England, and when the ship in which his daughter was 
expected anchored in front of his house, he felt confi- 
dent she was on board, but instead of this he received 
her miniature and a letter informing him that she was 
engaged to be married to John Rider. 

In this disappointment he became very angry, and 
threw the miniature into the fire; fortunately it was 
rescued by some one standing near and before it was 
seriously injured. It is now in possession of one of her 



84 

descendants and still in a fair state of preservation. A 
copy of the miniature will be found in this volume. 
Dorothy Hutchins was married to John Rider in Eng- 
land about the year 1685, and their son, since known as 
Col. John Rider, was born there October 30, 1686. They 
afterwards sailed for America, and both she and her 
husband died on the voyage, leaving their infant son 
surviving them. The young son was received by his 
grandfather. Colonel Hutchins, and at his death in- 
herited all his property. 

Colonel Hutchins died in 1699, and from him are 
descended in the female line our branch of the Henry 
family, as well as the Steeles, of Maryland, and his 
name is still perpetuated in several living members of 
the Steele family. His grandson, Col. John Rider, mar- 
ried January 23, 1706, Anne Hicks, of Dorchester county, 
Maryland. He died February 16, 1740, and the entry 
of his death in his family record says of him: " He was 
an honest man, truly attached to the Church of Eng- 
land, of a solid, good judgment, reasoned well, without 
affectation, ostentation or passion." Colonel Rider left 
one son, Charles, and three daughters, Sarah, Anne and 
Dorothy surviving him. His son died unmarried about 
two years later. Of his daughters, Sarah, the eldest, 
married James Billings, a merchant of Oxford, Md. 
Anne married Thomas Nevitt, the father of John Rider 
Nevitt, and Dorothy married Col. John Henry, as before 
stated. Henry Steele, an English gentlemen, at that time 
of Oxford, Md., afterwards nearest neighbor of Governor 
Henry, married a daughter of James Billings, and his 
son, James Steele, married Mary Nevitt, granddaughter 
of Thomas Nevitt and daughter of John Rider Nevitt. 

The Nevitts, Billings and Steeles were all refined 
and cultivated people, as may be discovered from their 




JOHN CAMPBELL HENRY. 




MRS. JOHN CAMPBELL HENRY, NEE STEELE. 



85 

letters and other writings still in existence. The Bill- 
ings and Nevitts, I believe, are now extinct in the male 
line. The name of Nevitt still survives in several mem- 
bers of the Steele family. 

Col. John Henry, of Weston, who married Dorothy 
Rider, died in 1781, leaving four sons and five daughters, 
namely, John, Francis Jenkins, Robert, Rider, Charlotte, 
Dolly, Nancy, Sarah and Keturah. 

John Henry, the eldest son, United States Senator and 
Governor of Maryland, was born in November, 1750, at 
Weston, the Henry homestead, on the Nanticoke river 
in Dorchester county, Maryland. (The writer has seen 
several biographical dictionaries which gave Easton, Md., 
as the place of his birth, but this is incorrect.) He was 
prepared for college at West Nottingham Academy in 
Cecil county, Maryland, a school of renown at that time, 
under the direction of Rev. Samuel Finly, D. D., and 
was then sent to Princeton College, where he graduated 
about 1769. After this he devoted himself to the study 
of law for several years in this country and then went 
to England, where he remained two or three years en- 
gaged in prosecuting his law studies in the Temple. 
While in England the issues between the Colonies and 
the Mother Country grew warmer day by day, and ex- 
cited intense feeling and anxiety. They were a fre- 
quent subject of conversation and led to animated dis- 
cussions in the Robin Hood Club, of which he was a 
member. He took part in all these discussions and zeal- 
ously defended the rights of the Colonies. He left Eng- 
land in 1775, and upon his arrival at home, thoroughly 
educated, with popular manners and a well stored mind, 
he was almost immediately elected by the people a 
member of the Maryland Legislature. In 1777 he was 



86 

sent to the Continental Congress, and remained by suc- 
cessive re-election almost continuously a member of that 
body until the adoption of the Constitution of the 
United States. 

During his service there, he argued with great earnest- 
ness and force against Mr. Jay's proposed treaty with 
Spain, whereby our right to the navigation of the Mis- 
sissippi river was to be surrendered in consideration of 
some commercial advantages, which inured almost ex- 
clusively to the benefit of the Eastern States. He con- 
tended that the Southern States and people of the Mis- 
sissippi Valley ought to secede from the Confederacy, 
rather than submit to the occulsion of that river. 

In 1787 he was appointed one of the committee to pre- 
pare an ordinance for the government of the Northwest 
Territory. When the ordinance was reported, and the 
clause prohibiting slavery, or involuntary servitude (the 
language of which is now embodied in the thirteenth 
amendment of our Constitution), was adopted, *Mary- 
land, on account of the just and determined position 
which she had assumed in regard to public lands, was 
not represented. 

While he was a large slave-holder at that time, I have 
no doubt from his expressed opinion that he would most 
heartily have concurred in and supported this clause. 

In a letter in 1796, addressed by him to Hon. Wm. 
Vans Murray, who was a member of the United States 
House of Representatives, then in session in Phila- 
delphia, it appears that his views on the subject of 
slavery were much in accord with those of Thomas Jef- 
ferson. He regarded it as an element of weakness in 

* See McMaster's History, volume 1, page 508 and note. 



87 

the event of war with a foreign power, and deprecated 
its existence upon moral grounds and as contrary to the 
principles upon which our government was founded. 

Mr. Murray and himself were natives and residents 
of the same county, and intimate friends. Mr. Murray 
was a most accomplished gentlemen, and was afterwards 
sent as United States Minister to The Hague, and also 
as Envoy Extraordinary to France. 

Upon the adoption of the Constitution, Mr. Henry was 
elected United States Senator for the term commencing 
March 4, 1789, and, upon its expiration, re-elected for 
the term commencing March 4, 1795, but afterwards re- 
signed to accept the office of Governor of Maryland, 
which he held from November, 1797, to November, 1798. 

The Constitution of Maryland in 1777 made the fol- 
lowing provision for the selection of its Governor: 

" Sec. 25. That a person of wisdom, experience and 
virtue shall be chosen Governor on the second Monday of 
November, 17^)9; and on the second Monday forever 
thereafter, by the joint ballot of both Houses.'' 

He declined re-election on account of ill-health and 
returned home to his estate on the Nanticoke river, 
where he died December 16, 1798. During the latter 
years of his life he frequently suffered from ill-health, 
the nature of which I have not been able to ascertain. 
In one of his letters he speaks of having been confined 
with the gout, and it is probable that he suffered with 
this or some kindred disease. 

Governor Henry had scarcely passed the meridian of 
life when he died. From early manhood until his death 
he was kept almost continually in the public service, 
rising step by step, and in regular gradation, to the 



88 

highest honors which the people of his State could 
confer. 

This, perhaps, is the best evidence of his private char- 
acter, and of the excellence of his qualifications for 
public duty, but to show the estimation in which he was 
held by those who knew him intimately; and to give 
some idea of his personal appearance, I will make an 
extract from a letter written by Levin H. Campbell, 
Esq., to his uncle, Peter Murdock, who resided in Scot- 
land. This Mr. Campbell studied law under the direc- 
tion of Governor Henry, and afterwards became a suc- 
cessful lawyer in Cambridge, Md., leaving behind him a 
most enviable reputation. The letter is a long one, rela- 
ting to matters of business and family affairs, but con- 
tains the following: " I would here forbear to add to the 
melancholy list of deaths and misfortunes which have 
happened to us in this part of the world, did I not owe 
a precious tribute to the memory of my dear departed 
friend and benefactor, the Hon. John Henry, who was a 
few years ago called off the busy stage of the world, 
where he had so long distinguished himself in all the 
various departments of life. This great man calls up 
to my mind a gloomy reflection upon the instability of 
human greatness, and also the changeableness of the 
natural and moral world, and this reflection assumes a 
much higher coloring when I survey the qualities that 
adorned his person and made him shine forth one of the 
brightest luminaries in our Western World. Adorned 
with every virtue, and an understanding capable of en- 
forcing the most benevolent wishes of the soul, he bla- 
zoned forth the patron of political integrity and wisdom. 
He was for many years a distinguished member of the 
Senate of the United States. In private life this great 
man was not less remarkable for his virtues than in 




DR. J. WINFIELD HENRY. 



89 

public— an affectionate husband, a fond parent, a hu- 
mane master, a warm friend, a kind neighbor, and grate- 
ful of kindness. These are virtues among the many 
which he possessed — his person, which was most grace- 
ful and elegant, commanded veneration and respect 
approaching almost the servility of homage. His man- 
ners were the most soft, easy and engaging; his conver- 
sation free, instructive and agreeable; upon the whole, 
I doubt whether this country ever produced a purer or 
more finished man. The last year of his life he acted 
as Governor of the State of Maryland, and had but just 
declined re-election to spend the remainder of his days 
in ease and retirement, at his home on the Nanticoke 
river, when tired nature received the dread shock which 
gave a lasting period to his existence. 

I will also make a quotation from a letter addressed 
some years since to the Rev. Dr. Handy, by Mrs. Aurelia 
Winder Townsend, of Oyster Bay, Long Island, in reply 
to a request from him for sketches of her grandfather, 
William Winder, and his brother. Levin Winder; also 
her great uncle. Gov. John Henry. She was a lady of 
much intelligence and culture, with a taste for genealogy 
and family history, and died not many years ago. 
Speaking of Governor Henry, she says: " That at the 
most important crisis in the history of his State he 
should have filled the most honorable and responsible 
offices in her gift, without intermission, from the age of 
twenty-five until his death (more than twenty years 
after), sufficiently attest the estimation in which he was 
held by the public, as the pride, love and reverence with 
which he was regarded by his sisters, and his memory 
cherished by their descendants, testify to the excellence 
and loveliness of his private character. Devoted as he 
was to important public duties, he yet found time and 



90 

inclination for all the small, sweet charities of life, and 
was now delighting his nieces, Arrietta Winder and 
Matilda Henry, with brocades imported expressly for 
them, and then directing his nephew, William H. Winder, 
in the commencement of his law studies, winning from 
him such respect and affection as only the highest, intel- 
lectual and moral character could command. Even in 
death his care for his sisters' children was manifested, 
as he bequeathed a farm to two of his nephews. Rider 
Winder and Hugh Henry." As a collateral relative she 
availed herself of the traditions and memoranda gath- 
ered from the older members of the family, and coming, 
as they do, from an independent source, corroborate 
those which I have received from others who knew him, 
including my father and mother; they both, although 
only eleven and nine years of age, respectively, at the 
time of his death, remembered his fine personal appear- 
ance and his dignified and affectionate bearing and 
manners. We regret that no portrait or likeness of 
him, as far as we know, is now in existence. His dwell- 
ing at Weston, his country homestead, was totally de- 
stroyed by fire a few years after his death, while his two 
sons were yet at Princeton College, and by that accident 
many of his papers and other valuables were destroyed. 
"I have understood, as was to be expected from his 
long public life, that he left a very large number, but 
owing to that calamity, I have only been able to collect 
a few here and there; some of these, however, are of 
historic interest and value, and others showing the dis- 
tinguished men who corresponded with him, and the 
friendly relations existing between them. He was ac- 
quainted with most of the great statesmen and soldiers 
of his day, and seems to have been on intimate terms 
with many of them. I have the original of Thomas Jef- 




COI,. FRANCIS J. HENRY. 



91 

ferson's letter to him while Governor, in regard to the 
authenticity of Logan's celebrated speech (which will be 
found elsewhere in this book). I will quote a closing 
sentence or two, as showing Mr. Jefferson's personal es- 
timate of Governor Henry: 'I have gone, my dear sir, 
into this lengthy detail to satisfy a mind in the candor 
and rectitude of which I have the highest confidence. 
So far as you may incline to use the communication for 
rectifying the judgments of those who are willing to see 
things truly as they are, you are free to use it, but I pray 
no confidence you may repose in anyone may induce you 
to let it go out of your hands, so as to get into a news- 
paper, against a contest in that field ; I am entirely de- 
cided. I feel extraordinary gratification in addressing 
this letter to you, with whom shades of difference in 
political sentiment have not prevented the interchange 
of good opinion, nor cut off the friendly offices of society 
and good correspondence. This political tolerance is the 
more valued by me, who considers social harmony as the 
first of human facilities and the happiest moments, those 
which are given to the effusions of the heart. Accept 
them sincerely, I pray you, from one, who with senti- 
ments of high respect and attachment, has the honor to 
be, dear sir, 

'Your most obedient and most humble servant, 

'Thomas Jefferson.'" 

John Henry and Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, were 
elected United States Senators at the same time, and 
were the first two Senators from Maryland after the 
adoption of the Constitution. 

The relations between the two were those of mutual 
respect and esteem. When they separated they corre- 
sponded with each other unreservedly. 



92 

You have probably noticed in some of the various 
compilations that at the third election for President and 
Vice-President, under the original provision of the Con- 
stitution, the Hon. John Henry, of Maryland, received 
two electoral votes for the Presidency of the United 
States. 

* " In the year 1796 the Presidential Electors for Mary- 
land, in accordance with the Constitution, met in 
Annapolis and cast the electoral vote of the State as 
follows : 

For John Adams, the incumbent, Vice-President, 7 votes 
" Thomas Pinckney, of South Carolina, 4 votes 
'' Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia, 4 votes 

" Aaron Burr, of New York, 3 votes 

" John Henry, of Maryland, 2 votes." 

Attention is called to this fact, not because it is of any 
great significance, for he was not a candidate for either 
of those offices, but merely for the purpose of showing 
that he had friends who deemed him capable and worthy 
of such a position. 

I have no information which enables me to speak with 
certainty as to his religious faith, but I presume, and 
have reason to believe, that he adhered to the faith of 
his grandfather and remained a Presbyterian until his 
death, although the Rider and Goldsborough familes, 
from whom his mother and wife were descended, were 
devoted adherents of the Church of England. 

It is not in my power to furnish a copy of any speech 
delivered by him, for in the last century, as you know, 
there was no Congressional Record. The Journals of 
Proceedings of Legislative Bodies were meagre and un- 

* From Scarf's History of Maryland, volume 2, page 598. 




HON. DANIEL M. HENRY. 



93 

satisfactory. Newspapers were few and the sources of 
information limited. Reporters had Httle or no admit- 
tance and the interviewer was almost unknown. 

That he spoke frequently and well, may be inferred 
from what he and others have written. 

In Wm. Maclay's Journal of the United States Senate, 
1789-1791, he several times refers to speeches made by 
Mr, Henry in the Senate. 

His letters to Governor Stone and others, and the 
general character of his correspondents as published 
herein, cannot fail to give a correct idea of the high es- 
timate placed upon him by the noted and prominent men 
of that time. 

My object has been to write a short sketch of him for 
the benefit of his descendants, which may serve as a 
basis for additions by them hereafter. 

Now permit me, as one of the many descendants of 
Governor Henry who revere his memory, to say that 
the more I have learned of his life and character, the 
more strongly I have inclined to the conviction that his 
cultivated talents, manly virtues and devoted patriotism 
entitle him to rank in history by the side of the best and 
wisest of his great contemporaries. 

I have not traced his ancestors back beyond their first 
settlement in this country as it is difficult to secure 
data that can be regarded as absolutely reliable. 

Governor Henry is said to have left a will, which is 
mentioned in the letter of Mrs. Aurelia Winder Town- 
send, and I much regret that it cannot be published with 
the other wills in this volume; but, owing to the destruc- 
tion of the records by fire in the Dorchester County 



94 

Courthouse, some fifty years ago, there is no will now 
in existence. 

He married, March 6, 1787, Margaret Campbell, 
daughter of John and Elizabeth Campbell, of Caroline 
county, Maryland. Her mother's maiden name was 
Goldsborough. 

Mrs. Henry's sister married Mr. Philip Francis, of Tal- 
bot county, Maryland, and she was the grandmother of 
Gov. Philip Francis Thomas, of Maryland, who filled 
with honor a number of public offices, among them being 
that of Secretary of the Treasury of the United States. 

Governor Henry left two sons, John Campbell Henry, 
born December 6, 1787, and Francis Jenkins, born in 
1789. His wife died about a month after the birth of 
her younger son, and he remained a widower until his 
death. His sons, after attending various schools in this 
State, were sent some years after his death by their 
guardian to Princeton College, where they comipleted 
their education. Francis Jenkins, the younger, died un- 
married soon after becoming of age. 

John Campbell Henry, the eldest son (my grand- 
father), was a man of fine personal appearance, remark- 
able intelligence and of the highest integrity. He was 
fond of bright and refined society, and his country 
home, " Hambrooks," was always the seat of generous 
and unpretending hospitality. In April, 1808, he mar- 
ried Mary Steele, a daughter of James Steele and a 
sister of I. Nevitt Steele, the distinguished lawyer of 
Baltimore City. She was a granddaughter of Henry 
Steele, who married Miss Billings. 

Henry Steele was a neighbor and an intimate friend 
of Governor Henry, and when he died, in 1782, was 




RIDER HENRY. 



95 

possessed of personal property which was appraised in 
the inventory returned after his death at £10,000, also 
leaving besides a large and valuable landed estate. Mrs. 
Henry and her husband both inherited fine estates, and 
together they possessed large tracts of land and many 
negroes. I have in my possession his account book, 
which contains the names of one hundred and seven 
negroes he owned at the time of his death, not including 
quite a number he had previously given to his eight 
children. 

He died in his seventieth year, in April, 1857, at Ham- 
brooks, his beautiful residence on the Choptank River, 
near Cambridge, Md. This attractive home and his 
open-handed hospitality were well known to all the best 
people of the State. He never sought public office, but 
was appointed one of the Governor's Council without his 
previous knowledge or consent, and after a few months' 
service resigned. It is said he could have been elected 
Governor, if he would have consented to accept the posi- 
tion. He had a large estate requiring his constant at- 
tention, and he preferred to devote himself to the duties 
of private life. 

Mary Steele, the wife of James Steele, and the mother 
of Mrs. Henry was the only daughter of John Rider 
Nevitt and Sarah Maynadier. (Miss Maynadier was a 
daughter of the Rev. Daniel Maynadier, a minister of the 
Church of England, and for many years, and until his 
death, rector of the ''Great Choptank Parish," Cambridge, 
Dorchester county, Maryland.) 

Mr. Nevitt died early in life, and his widow, Sarah 
Nevitt, nee Maynadier, afterwards married Dr. James 
Murray and resided in Annapolis. She lived there to an 
advanced age, and died leaving two sons, Daniel and 



96 

James Murray, and three daughters, Sally, Nancy and 
Catherine, surviving her, all of them distinguished for 
their high social positions. Daniel married Miss Dorsey, 
James married Miss Radcliffe, Sally married Gov. Ed- 
ward Lloyd, Catherine married Hon. Richard Rush of 
Pennsylvania, Nancy married Gen. John Mason of 
Virginia. 

Mrs. Mason was the mother of the Hon. James M. 
Mason and grandmother of Gen. Fitzhugh Lee, one of 
the recent Governors of Virginia. 

Mrs. John Campbell Henry was a granddaughter of 
Mrs. Murray by her first marriage with Mr. Nevitt, and 
also a niece of the Murray children above mentioned. 

Mrs. Henry survived her husband, John Campbell 
Henry, many years, and died at the residence of her 
son, Dr. J. Winfield Henry, in Cambridge, Md., Novem- 
ber 20, 1873, at the age of eighty-four years. She was 
an accomplished woman, a lovely Christian character, 
exceedingly entertaining in conversation, and even in 
old age retained something of the beauty for which she 
was noted in her early life. They left eight children 
surviving them, four sons and four daughters, viz. : Dr. 
J. Winfield Henry, Francis J. Henry, Daniel M. Henry, 
Rider Henry, Kitty, Isabella, Mary and Charlotte. 

* * * 

Dr. J. Winfield studied medicine and graduated at 
Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, in 1838, and 
practised his profession successfully in Dorchester 
county, Maryland, for many years. He was a conscien- 
tious and capable physician and always regarded as a 
man of the highest integrity. In March, 1841, he mar- 
ried Anna Maria Campbell, daughter of Levin H. Camp- 
bell, a prominent lawyer of Cambridge, Md. (Previously 



97 

referred to as having studied law under the direction of 
Governor John Henry). She was a most sincere 
Christian woman, of decided character and opinions, 
and an exemplary member of the Episcopal Church. 
They both died in the Summer of 1889, within two 
months of each other, leaving five sons and one daughter. 

'' Of his sons, James Winfield is a merchant, and was 
for many years the head of a successful wholesale busi- 
ness in Baltimore, and at one time a director on the part 
of the State in the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad ; also 
director in two of the national banks of the State." He 
married, in 1882, Maria Louise Dulin, of Baltimore, The 
second son, John Campbell, is a practical and successful 
business man, and at present a farmer in Talbot county, 
Maryland. He married Elizabeth Hughlet, daughter 
of Col. Thos. Hughlet, of Talbot county, Maryland. 
They have one son, their only child, Hughlet Henry, who 
is now practising law in Easton, Md. The fourth son, 
Daniel Murray, was an able and talented lawyer in 
Cambridge, Md., with a large practice, but died early in 
life, at the age of forty-one. He had many friends, and 
his loss was deeply lamented by all who knew him; 
he married Miss Martha Adkins, of Easton, Md. His 
wife, two daughters (Levina and Mary) and one son 
(Adkins) survive him. His son Adkins Henry is now a 
student at the Maryland University Law School. The 
other sons of Dr. J. Winfield Henry, Levin Hicks and 
Charles Steele, are both engaged in business in Cam- 
bridge, Md., and are yet unmarried. Their only daugh- 
ter, Nannie Campbell, married Dr. Brice W. Golds- 
borough, a practising physician of Cambridge, Md., and 
President of Cambridge (Md.) Hospital. They have 
four daughters— Anna, Etta, Louise and Mary Campbell. 



98 

Francis J. Henry commenced business as a merchant, 
but shortly afterwards became interested in poHtics and 
held the office of Clerk of the Circuit Court for Dorchester 
county by successive re-election for twenty-eight years. 
He was a most courteous and hospitable gentleman, and 
of great popularity. In early life he acquired a fond- 
ness for hunting, and became noted as an excellent 
partridge and duck shot. It is said that he frequently 
shot from the hip and with great success. His wife, to 
whom he was married in August, 1836, was Willimena 
Goldsborough, youngest daughter of Robert Golds- 
borough of Cambridge, Md. He survived his wife some 
twenty years and died in 1901, at the advanced age of 
eighty-four years. His oldest son, John Campbell, served 
with much credit in the Confederate Army during the 
late Civil War, and was several times wounded in battle; 
he is now a resident of New Orleans, La. The second 
son, Robert Goldsborough, is a practising lawyer, and at 
the present time is Mayor of Cambridge. Another son, 
Nicholas, resides in Washington, D. C, and is connected 
with the United States Coast Survey. They had four 
daughters, Mary, Nannie, Elizabeth and Willimina, all 
of whom married and have children. 



Daniel Murray was an able lawyer, and for many years 
the head of the Dorchester county bar; he served in both 
branches of the State Legislature, also for two terms 
(45th and 46th Congress) as a member of the House of 
Representatives of the United States. He was a man of 
much natural talent and fine legal ability, but of modest 
and retiring manners. He was twice married; first in 
November, 1845, to Henrietta Maria, youngest daughter 
of Gov. Charles Goldsborough. She died in 1846, leav- 



99 

ing an infant son, who died in the following year. After 
remaining a widower for thirteen years he married in 
1859 Susan Elizabeth, only daughter of William Golds- 
borough, Esq., of Myrtle Grove, Talbot county, Mary- 
land, and granddaughter of Hon. Robert H. Golds- 
borough, United States Senator from Maryland, and 
also granddaughter of Gov. Charles Goldsborough, above 
mentioned. By the second wife, who died in 1883, he had 
six children, three sons and three daughters. He survived 
his wife about sixteen years, and died in 1899, at the age 
of seventy-seven years. His oldest daughter, Susan, a 
beautiful and accomplished girl, and his eldest son, 
Maynadier, a most estimable young man, both died 
shortly after becoming of age. His second son, Winder 
Laird, is a lawyer by profession, and a young man of 
much natural ability, and was elected a member of the 
Fifty-third Congress at the age of twenty-nine years. 
At the present time he is practising law in Cambridge. 
Another son, Robert Goldsborough, is a merchant in Bal- 
timore, and has been quite successful in his business. 
He married Miss Roberta Boiling, of Virginia. The 
other daughters, Charlotte and Mary, are unmarried, 
and reside in Cambridge, Md. 



Rider, the fourth son, married, in 1859, Miss 
Octavia Sulivance, only daughter of Dr. Vans Murray 
Sulivance, of Mississippi, (a relative of the Hon. 
Wm. Vans Murray hereinbefore referred to.) He 
selected farming as his vocation in life, and they lived 
for many years upon his fine estate called " Belvoir," 
near Cambridge, Md. After the civil war they moved 
to Mississippi, where he engaged in cotton planting for 
some years, but later they removed to Washington, 



100 

D. C, where he held an appointment under the United 
States Government. He died in Cambridge in 1900, at 
the age of seventy-three years. His widow, two sons 
and two daughters survive him. The two sons, Clement 
and Rider, are engaged in the importing business in 
New York City, and I understand have been quite suc- 
cessful. His elder daughter, Mary, married John Golds- 
borough, a lawyer, of Washington, D. C, and the 
younger daughter, Betty, married the Hon. John Hemp- 
hill, of South Carolina. 



Kitty, the eldest daughter, in 1846, married Daniel 
Lloyd, youngest son of Governor and United States 
Senator Edward Lloyd, of Talbot county. They lived 
for many years on his large estate, '' Wye Heights," on 
the Wye river in Talbot county, Maryland, but in 1860 
they removed to Cambridge, Md., where he died some 
years later. Mrs. Lloyd was a woman of sterling quali- 
ties and a sincere christian character. She survived 
her husband a number of years and died in 1886, leav- 
ing three children, one son and two daughters. Henry 
Lloyd, her son, studied law and practised his profession 
for some years in Cambridge, Md. He represented Dor- 
chester county in the State Senate for several years, and 
in 1887 was elected Governor of Maryland. It is very 
remarkable that his name, Henry Lloyd, should repre- 
sent both of his grandfathers, who were also Governors 
of Maryland. His Christian name, Henry, after Gov- 
ernor Henry, and his surname, Lloyd, after Governor 
Lloyd. At the present time he is Judge Henry Lloyd, of 
the first Judicial Circuit of Maryland. He married 
Elizabeth Staplefort, of Dorchester county, and they 
have one child named for his father, Henry Lloyd. Her 



\ 




GOVERNOR HENRY LLOYD. 



101 

daughters, Mary and Kate, reside in Cambridge, and are 
yet unmarried. 



Isabella, in 1850 married her cousin, Dr. Thomas B. 
Steele, formerly of the United States Navy, he having 
resigned his commission in 1861. While in the Navy 
he performed much active and arduous duty, participa- 
ting for several years in the Mexican War, and after- 
wards in 1851 going with Commodore Perry's expedition 
on a long cruise to China. During the yellow fever 
epidemic in Norfolk, Va. in 1855, he exhibited great 
courage, being present and administering to the sick for 
the entire time, and for his courageous and constant 
professional services, the citizens presented him a hand- 
some gold medal. For the past forty years he has been 
the leading physician in Cambridge and Dorchester 
county, Md. He is a man of very generous and kind 
impulses, and has been most unselfish in the practice of 
his profession, doing much for the poor and sick without 
any expectation of reward. Now nearly eighty years of 
age he has the gratitude and respect of the entire 
community. Mrs. Steele is a woman of strong mental 
capacity, and has been a most devoted mother. They 
have three children living. Ogle Steele, who holds a 
Government position, and resides in Washington, D. C. 
and Dr. Guy Steele, who lives in Cambridge, Md., and 
has recently taken up his father's practice. Their 
daughter, Isabella, married Mr. Lewis Trail, of Frederick, 
Md., and they now reside in Easton, Md. 



Mary, in 1848, married Richard Tilghman Golds- 
borough, a son of Gov. Charles Goldsborough; he was a 



102 

farmer for many years, and afterwards engaged in the 
drug business in Cambridge. He died in 1895. Mrs. 
Goldsborough is still living; she has no children. 

Charlotte married, in 1852, Hon. Charles F. Golds- 
borough, also a son of Gov. Charles Goldsborough. By 
profession he was a lawyer, and for some years held the 
office of State's Attorney for Dorchester county; he was 
also a State Senator for several terms, and was after- 
wards elected one of the Judges of the First Judicial 
Circuit of Maryland, "which position he held for many 
years, and until his death in 1892. Judge Goldsborough 
was a man of rare ability, and an accomplished speaker, 
possessing unusual conciseness of language. Mrs. Golds- 
borough, who survived him, still occupies their attractive 
home in Cambridge. She is an unselfish christian char- 
acter and beloved by all who know her. They have no 
children now living. 

Record of the Marriage of Governor John Henry 
AND Margaret Campbell. 

Taken from the family Bible of Mrs. Charles Golds- 
borough: 

" On Tuesday, the 6th of March, 1787, was married 
(at our house, Belvoir), Margaret Campbell, daughter of 
John and Elizabeth Campbell, to John Henry, son of 
John and Dorothy Henr}^ 

" On the 6th of December following was born their 
first son. He was baptized by the Rev. Mr. Kerr a few 
months after his birth (at the wedding of Sally Henry 
to John Ratcliff) by the name of John Campbell. Their 
second son, born on Sunday night, the 6th of February, 
1789. Mrs. Henry was taken very ill immediately after 



103 

the birth of her second son and continued so until the 
17th of March following, when it pleased God to take 
her to Himself. She was interred on Friday, the 13th, 
after sunset, and on Tuesday, 24th, her funeral sermon 
was preached by the Rev. Mr. Kerr from the words of 
St. John, 16th chapter, 33d verse. * These things have 
I spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In 
the world ye shall have tribulations, but be of good 
cheer; I have overcome the world.' At the same time 
her son was baptized by the the name of Francis Jenkins. 

C. G." 

Traditions of " Weston," the Home of Gov. John 

Henry, on the Nanticoke River, 

Dorchester County, Md. 

The incidents herein related come down to my genera- 
tion through my grandparents and old negro servants of 
the Henry family: 

When a boy I frequently heard my grandparents and 
an old negro servant (Job) describe the attack made upon 
"Weston " during the War of the Revolution, in the fol- 
lowing manner, viz.: One day a British war vessel came 
up the Nanticoke river, greatly alarming the family, who 
retired for safety to the back country, and when ap- 
proaching ''Weston " opened fire upon the place, causing 
much damage to the buildings, and killing in the orchard 
a favorite riding horse of Governor Henry. The horse 
was struck by a cannon ball. They afterwards landed a 
squad of soldiers and pillaged the house, the men getting 
drunk on the fine old wines and liquors in the cellar and 
destroying all they could not carry off by knocking in 
the heads of the barrels. These proceedings were all 
witnessed by a negro man who secreted himself in the 



104 

limbs of a Lombardy poplar tree. He described his 
fright as being terrible, but after getting up the tree 
said he was afraid to get down again. Fortunately he 
was undiscovered and after the British had left he rep- 
resented the scene as "dreadful," and said the tears 
came in his eyes to see all of "Marse John's " nice liquors 
running ankle deep over the cellar floor, and '' we darkies 
jist got down on our knees and drunk until we couldn't 
drink no more." 

Another fact transmitted is that the old brick dwelling 
at ''Weston " was burned during the War of 1812 and 
that all the family portraits, library and valuable papers 
of Governor Henry were destroyed at that time. 

J. WiNFiELD Henry. 
December 28, 1899. 

In confirmation of the above you will find in Letter 
Book No. 26, Letter No. 50, of the Maryland Historical 
Society. 

Letter of Joseph Dashield, dated Salisbury, Septem- 
ber 30, 1780, to Gov. Thomas Sim Lee. 

One portion of the letter has the following: 

" The enemy's boats, after landing at Vienna and de- 
stroying a brigantine and several vessels, went down the 
river to Col. John Henry's, where they gave a specimen 
of their savage disposition. They broke all the glass in 
the house, the doors, his clock; broke all his floors and 
pulled up all his wainscoat; broke his still and started all 
his cider and brandy, and did him a great deal more 
damage, and carried off two of his negro men, and near 
night they left him and then proceeded down to Dames 
Quarter in Somerset county." 



105 

Inscriptions Copip]d From the Tombstones at '' Wes- 
ton," THE Old Homestead of the Henry 
Family, Where Gov. John Henry 
Lived and Died and 
Was Buried. 

In memory of Henry Steele, who departed this Hfe the 
fifth day of February, Anno Domini 1782. 

Under this stone lyeth the body of the Honorable 
Colonel John Rider, who departed this life on the six- 
teenth day of February, 1739. 

* * * 

In memory of Ann, daughter of the Hon. John Rider, 
and relict of Major James Billings, of Dorchester county. 

This stone is erected by her only surviving child, Ann 
Steele, the 27th of February MDCCIVI (1741). 



Here lies the body of Mr. James Billings, who de- 
parted this life the 11th day of September, Anno Domini 
1747. 

" There is a gloomy vale between us, 
Pass on, I am gone before." 



Under this stone lyeth the body of Captain Charles 
Rider, who departed this life on the 20th day of October, 
1741. 



Note. — The above are all of the tombstones to be 
found at this time (October 12, 1897) in the old grave- 
yard, except several small stones erected to the memory 
of young children of James and Ann Billings. 



106 

No tomb was ever erected over the remains of Gov. 
John Henry, which is much regretted by all his descend- 
ants, and at the present time it is impossible to locate 
his grave. 

At the time of his death his two sons (the only chil- 
dren) were infants in a legal sense, being then only 
eight and nine years of age, and did not realize the im- 
portance of erecting some monument to his memory. 

J. WiNFiELD Henry, Jr. 

October 12, 1897. 

Copy of Letter of Mrs. Aurelia Winder Townsend. 

Rev. Dr. Handy: 

Dear Sir: In compliance with your request, I will 
endeavor to give you slight sketches of my grandfather, 
Wm. Winder, Jr., his brother. Levin Winder, and my 
great-uncle. Governor Henry. It will be easy to recount 
the leading incidents of their lives, but I fear impossi- 
ble to convey to you the vivid, life-like impression of 
the men which I have derived from conversation with 
my mother from my earliest recollection. The likeness 
produced by these innumerable, minute touches cannot 
be copied by a stroke of the i3en, at least not in my 
hand, especially as I am restrained by the conscious- 
ness that my near relationship to these gentlemen might 
occasion a suspicion of partiality if I wrote as every 
one acquainted with my subjects spoke of them. But I 
will attempt to give you an outline which shall be strictly 
truthful, however wanting in grace, spirit and finish. 
My authorities for the incidents I shall mention are my 
mother, my father, memoranda letters from our friend 
and relation, John B. Morris, of Baltimore, the nephew 
of my grandfather and Governor Winder, and a letter 




\ 



DANIEL M. HENRY, JR. 



107 

from Mrs. Daniel Lloyd, of Cambridge, Md., a grand- 
daughter of Governor Henry. 

Gov. John Henry, son of John Henry and Dorothy 
Rider, was born in November, 1749, at the family seat, 
*' Weston," on Nanticoke, inherited by his mother from 
her great-grandfather, Charles Hutchins, and now owned 
by her great-grandson, Francis Jenkins Henry. He was 
prepared for college by the Rev. Samuel Finley, D. D., 
who kept a celebrated school at West Nottingham, Cecil 
county, Maryland, and graduated at Princeton in 1769. 
From there he went to England to finish his education, 
and graduated at Cambridge. He must also have 
studied law in England, as his whole life after his return 
was spent in public service, and he had no time either 
for the study or practice of his profession, his large 
property enabling him to devote himself with all the 
influence derived from fortune, station, talent, integrity 
and personal popularity to the service of his country at 
a most critical juncture. 

In the Autumn after his return from England (about 
the time of the opening of the Revolution) he was 
elected to the Legislature from Dorset county, and in 
1777 to the Continental Congress, to which he continued 
to be re-elected until the adoption of the Federal Con- 
stitution, when he and Charles Carroll were elected to 
the U. S. Senate, Mr. Henry for the long term. At the 
expiration of that term he was chosen Governor of 
Maryland, which office he resigned in November, 1798, 
and returning to his residence on the Nanticoke, died 
before the close of the month, of what disease I do not 
know ; ill-health probably occasioned his resignation. 

That at the most important crisis in the history of 
his State he should have filled the most honorable and 



108 

responsible offices in her gift without intermission, from 
the age of twenty-five until his death, sufficiently attests 
the estimation in which he was held by the public, as 
the pride, love and reverence with which he was re- 
garded by his sisters and his memory cherished by their 
descendants testifies to the excellence and loveliness of 
his private character. Devoted as he was to important 
public duties he yet found time and inclination for the 
small, sweet charities of life, and was now delighting 
his nieces, Arietta Winder and Matilda Henry, with 
brocades imported expressly for them, and then direct- 
ing his nephew, Wm. H. Winder, in the commencement 
of his law studies, winning from him such respect and 
affection as only the highest intellectual and moral 
character could commend from such a man. Even in 
death, his care for his sisters' children was manifested, 
as he bequeathed a farm to two of his nephews. Rider 
Winder and Hugh Henry. 

I am not able to give the date of his marriage. The 
family mansion was destroyed by fire not long after his 
death and his papers lost. His wife, who died before 
him, was Margaret, daughter of John Campbell, of Bel- 
voir, on Jenkins' Creek, which estate now belongs to his 
great-grandson, Rider Henry. Her mother was Eliza- 
beth Goldsborough. Governor Henry left two sons, 
Francis Jenkins and John Campbell, both of them 
remarkably handsome men. The first died unmarried, 
soon after their return from Princeton. John Camp- 
bell died April 1, 1857, in his seventieth year, at '' Ham- 
brook," his residence near Cambridge. Mr. Henry was 
a very fine specimen of a Maryland country gentlemen 
of the old school. Inheriting a large fortune and the 
highest social position, endowed with a very handsome 
person, excellent abilities, cultivated by the best educa- 



109 

tion the country afforded, he married early in life his 
relation, (her grandmother Steele and grandfather 
Nevitt being first cousins of Governor Henry) Mary, 
daughter of Henry Steele, a woman of extraordinary 
beauty and great amiability, and settled down to the 
management of his estate, the enjoyment of his family 
and the exercise of a graceful, unostentatious old-fash- 
ioned hospitality. When the Governor of Maryland was 
appointed by the Legislature, overtures were made to 
elect him to that office and declined. Entirely satisfied 
with his position, with the exception of serving once in 
the Governor's Council, he avoided any conspicuous 
political office, while he willingly served his neighbors 
in offices such as Judge of the Orphans' Court that were 
compatible with his home duties and pleasures. 

Long will his memory be green in the hearts, not only 
of his children, but of all the circle, which lost in him 
one of its chief ornaments. His widow is still living at 
the age of eighty-three, and retains, I am told, to a 
remarkable degree the beauty of her youth. His eight 
surviving children are all married and settled very near 
his late residence. 

AuRELiA Winder Townsend. 

Letter of Dr. James Murray to Hon. William 
Vans Murray. 

Annapolis, September 1st, 1799. 
My Dear Sir: Your friends on this side of the Atlan- 
tic have for a long course of time had no direct commu- 
nication with you, but as I well know the warmth of 
affection which you retain for your old friends, I em- 
brace this opportunity of giving you a short detail of 
those whom you most love in this country, and to inform 
you that we shall be highly gratified to hear of your 



110 

health and happiness and that of your amiable partner. 
On a late visit which I made to Dorset, I found your 
brothers and sisters, with all your other friends, in 
health and spirits; but complaining, as we do in Annapo- 
lis, that your time is too much occupied to afford you 
leisure to write to us. Your brother Robinson has lately 
a stout son, and he expects, from his present size, that 
he will soon be able to shoulder a musket. Your neigh- 
bor, Mr. Steele, who has purchased the Goldsborough 
house at the Point, has also another son, and we are 
multiplying in every direction. My daughter Nancy, 
who married Mr. Mason, has two sons, and my daughter 
Sally, who married Mr. Lloyd since you left us, has given 
him an heir to his splendid fortune. Both the girls are, 
I believe, as happy as health and fortune can make 
them, and both Mrs. M. and myself feel a comfort and 
happiness in our children which falls to the lot of few. 
Mr. Mason is a man of great respectability and large 
fortune. He will probably take his family to Europe as 
soon as the convulsed state of that country will admit, 
and if, in the course of their excursions, he should have 
an opportunity of paying his respects to you, you will 
be much pleased with him. Mr. Lloyd, though a very 
young man, has great energy of character, is devoted 
to domestic enjoyments and is esteemed and beloved by 
his neighbors. In the several visits I have made to him 
at Wye House, he appears to be a most affectionate hus- 
band and father, a kind and indulgent master, and also 
shows an active and well-directed attention to his estate, 
and I believe my daughter has not a wish of her heart 
ungratified. This is a family detail, which I should not 
have given had I not been convinced that the affection 
which you bear the parties would make it a pleasing one 
to you. 



I have now, my good sir, a word to say to you respect- 
ing my son Daniel, who about twelve months ago finished 
his collegiate education, and as our friend Mr. Dowell, 
who continues the same worthy good character you left 
him, assured me that he had talents which would qualify 
him to fill any station with respectability, I proposed to 
him the study of law, which he very diligently pursued 
for several months, but the preparations which we had 
been making for war has intoxicated all our young men, 
and I could not prevail upon him to be an inactive 
spectator of it. He has taken a station as midshipman 
on board the insurgent frigate which Truxton took from 
the French, and is now commanded by my brother, 
Captain Murray, who is on a cruise off the coast of Spain 
to give protection to our commerce which has suffered 
greatly in that quarter. A letter which I received from 
Captain Murray a few days after he sailed, says that 
Daniel's conduct, so far as he can judge in so short a 
time, promises everything he could wish, and he will 
found the most promising expectations. Now, my good 
sir, as you may suppose I have his advancement much at 
heart, and I well know that you do and ought to possess 
the confidence of the President. I trust that you will 
take an opportunity in your private communications 
with Mr. Adams to say that you have a relative who has 
just commenced his career in the Navy, whom you wish 
to see promoted. You may with confidence say of him 
that he is a young man of talents, probity and the strict- 
est honor, and that he is of that class of society which 
will give respectability to the Navy. He has the princi- 
ples and education of a gentleman and has a prospect of 
a handsome independence. 

These are qualifications which you will think ought to 
give him a preference to a mere sailor; but I am in- 



112 

formed, as he is a good mathematician, a few months at 
sea will qualify him for a lieutenancy, and as all our 
naval officers are newly created, I trust that you will 
think it would not be improper to solicit an appointment 
for my son. I have a powerful personal interest with 
the Secretary of the Navy, and am confident he would 
willingly avail himself of every circumstance to promote 
my son's interest, and should it not be inconsistent with 
your principles to exert your interest with the Presi- 
dent on such occasions, I should have very little doubt 
of his success. That he would be promoted in course 
with other midshipmen, I have no doubt, but I hope you 
will think his qualifications, connections, etc., ought to 
give him a preference, and as he will return from his 
cruise in the month of February, if you will add your 
interest to what I can do for him, I think we may get 
him a lieutenancy by the next cruise. 

I have, my dear sir, expressed myself as a father par- 
tial to his son, but to you, whom I know has an affection- 
ate attachment to my family, I need make no apology. 
If you think it consistent with your character, you will 
gratify me by an application to the President; if not, I 
shall impute it to that delicacy which your public situa- 
tion requires of you. Mrs. M. joins me in affectionate 
wishes to yourself and Mrs. Murray. 

I am, my dear sir, with great sincerity, your friend 
and obedient servant, 

James Murray. 



MEMORANDA FROM WILLS IN SOMERSET 
COUNTY, MARYLAND. 

By Judge J. Upshur Dennis, of the Maryland Bench. 

I. Rev. John Henry, (Liber E. B. No. 9, fol. 53,) died 
about June 20, 1717. Married Mary, the widow of Col. 
Robert Jenkins, by whom she had no children. She 
was the daughter of Sir Robert King, an Englishman of 
wealth, who settled in what is now Kingston, in Somer- 
set county. After Henry's death she married another 
Presbyterian minister, the Rev. John Hampton, an 
Englishman, but had no children by him. She is buried 
at '' Hampton "—the family seat— near Rehobeth, on the 
river bank, and is described upon her tomb as ''Lady Mary 
Hampton." Her three husbands are probably buried 
in the Presbyterian churchyard at Rehobeth ; it is pos- 
sible, however, that one or more of them may be buried 
near her at Hampton, although I have never heard of 
any family burial-ground there, nor has any trace of 
one existed, to my personal knowledge, for forty years. 
The Rev. John Hampton died chxa February 2, 1721, 
(will in Liber E. B. No. 9, fol. 85); while Lady Hampton 
survived until circa December 13, 1744. By her will 
she left the several tracts of land near Rehobeth, and 
which afterwards became known as *' Hampton," con- 
taining about nine hundred acres, and large tracts else- 
where and also certain lots in Snow Hill, to her son, Rob- 
ert Jenkins Henry, and several other tracts to her son 
John, and legacies to her brother. Col. Robert King and 
others, and named her two sons as executors. (Liber 
E. B. No. 9, folio 249.) 

From Rev. John Henry and the above-described Mary 
were born two sons, the first called after the madam's 



114 

first husband, Robert Jenkins Henry, and the second 
John Henry. When the Rev. John died they were both 
under age, as he speaks of them as his ** dear babes," 
and appointed his brother-in-law, Col. Robert King, and 
friend, Ephraim Wilson, as their counsellors and guard- 
ians. He left a brother named Hugh, who left a son of 
the same name, who left a son, the Rev. Hugh Henry ; 
but I find no further trace of descendants on this 
brother's line. 

By his will, the Rev. John Henry gave the larger por- 
tion of his estate to his eldest son, Robert Jenkins 
Henry; but left his son John also large tracts, especially 
a large body of land lying in the St. Martin's river (from 
which it is perhai3s probable that the branch of Henrys 
in the upper end of Worcester descended from this son). 
As has been seen, both sons were under age at the time 
of his death. 

H. Robert Jenkins Henry, eldest son of Rev. John 
Henry and Mary Jenkins {nee King). Died circa No- 
vember 14, 1766 (wills. Liber E. B. No. 4, fol. 119). His 
wife was Gertrude Rousby and she survived him. She 
was a sister of Mrs. Ed. Lloyd (the 3rd Edward). 

He left two sons, Robert Jenkins Henry and Edward 
Henry, and four daughters, Mary King, Ann, Elizabeth 
and Gertrude. Both of his sons were under age (he 
mentions that Robert, the elder, was ten years old), and 
two of his daughters, although it does not appear which 
two. 

By inheritance, and his own acquisitions, he became 
possessed of very large wealth, not only of lands in 
Maryland, but also in Virginia and North Carolina. He 
gave the land upon which the Presbyterian Church at 
Rehobeth was situated, and also the land upon which the 



115 

Episcopal Church (" Coventry ") is situated, to the con- 
gregations of those churches, and the land upon which 
the Government Inspection House (for custom's duties) 
was situated, for that use, as long as it should be needed 
for that purpose. 

He gave the homeplace "Hampton," together with the 
larger portion of his estate, to his son Robert Jenkins 
Henry, as also his watch ''with the hope that he will not 
part with it, as it is a family watch;" lands to Edward — 
particularly a large tract in " Sussex county, on Dela- 
ware Bay"— and to his several daughters; and ''com- 
memorative rings " to several friends (including "Cousin 
Betsy Lloyd and brother Lloyd ") ; and named his brother- 
in-law, the Hon. Edward Lloyd, and " Col. John Henry 
of Dorchester," as guardians of his children, and especi- 
ally entrusted them with the education of his children. 

From Robert Jenkins Henry and Gertrude, the oldest 
son was— (nothing is shown in the records of their son 
Edward, and it is probable that he died under age, or 
removed to Worcester or Dorchester) — 

HL Robert Jenkins Henry, born November, 1766, 
(see his father's will). He died, without leaving a will, 
circa: 1822-1824; but his eldest son, who inherited from 
him "Hampton " and his other estates was 

IV. Robert Jenkins Henry (old General Henry), who 
resided at Hampton and died without a will about the 
end of 1845. His wife was Mary Dennis Handy, grand- 
daughter of old Col. Samuel Handy, of Snow Hill, who 
married a daughter of John Dennis, the second (and the 
third in descent in this country) and sister of the first 
Littleton Dennis. His wife's nephew. Dr. Littleton 
Dennis Handy (a great-grandson of Col. Samuel Handy), 



116 

was appointed his administrator. The date of his birth 
is not shown, but James U. Dennis says he was at least 
sixty years old, a very fine-looking man, although rather 
small in stature, very courtly in manner, but very " pep- 
pery " ; and " would fight at the wink of an eye." He 
left descendants: Dr. Samuel Handy Henry, who re- 
moved to Elkridge Landing and afterwards to Balti- 
more; Robert Jenkins Henry, who removed to Missis- 
sippi about 1857, and Mary Dennis Henry, who married 
McPherson (of the Frederick county family), and Har- 
riet Henry, who married the Rev. Henry Onderdonk. 
Both daughters are buried in the Presbyterian church- 
yard at Rehobeth. 

After the death of General Henry, my grandfather 
purchased ** Hampton," containing at that time nine 
hundred and seventy-seven acres, and had it deeded to 
his son, James U. Dennis, now of Princess Anne. (See 
Deeds W. P., Liber No. 1, folios 269 and 43L) 

J. Upshur Dennis. 
March 19, 1900. 

H. John Henry, second son of Rev. John Henry and 
Mary Jenkins (nee King), died circa September 13, 1781 
(Wills, E. B. No. 1, folio 147). He left four sons, John, 
Francis Jenkins, Rider and Robert; and five daughters, 
Charlotte (who married a Winder), Kiturah, Dolly, Nancy 
and Sarah. It would seem from his will that he mar- 
ried a Rider. 

He left to his son John several tracts of land in Som- 
erset and Dorchester, including the " plantation on Nan- 
ticoke, where I formerly lived ; to his son Francis 
Jenkins Henry, all his lands in Worcester county; 
to his son Rider Henry, several tracts in Somerset 
and Dorchester, and lots in Vienna; to his son Robert 



117 

lands in Somerset; and legacies and some small tracts 
of land to each of his daughters (having previously pro- 
vided for them by a deed of trust some years before 
his death). 

This is probably the " Col. John Henry of Dorchester," 
referred to in the will of Robert Jenkins Henry (the 
first) and who, together with his brother-in-law, Col. Ed- 
ward Lloyd, was appointed guardian of his children. 

There are no further references to any of this branch 
in the male line in Somerset county. 

J. Upshur Dennis. 
March 19, 1900. 

Will of Rev. John Henry. 

In the name of God— Amen! The first day of Octo- 
ber, Anno Domini 1715, I, John Henry, of Pocomoke, in 
the county of Somerset, province of Maryland, being 
sensible of my approaching dissolution, though now of 
tolerable health and sound judgment (blessed be God), 
do make, constitute and appoint this my last will and 
testament, disannulling and revoking all others before 
made; that is to say, I commend my soul to Almighty 
God through my blessed Redeemer. I bequeath my 
body to its mother earth, expecting my soul shall meet 
with it infinitely more glorious than now I lay it down, 
and it is my will it be interred decently, without any 
confusion or noise; also it is my will a sermon be 
preached then or next Lord's Day after, by some Godly 
minister, if to be had, from 2 Cor., 5th chapter, 12th 
verse. 

Item. — I give and bequeath to my dear brother, Hugh 
Henry, and loving sisters, Jennett and Helen Henry, 



118 

fifteen pounds sterling, which I will, be quickly after my 
decease paid into the hands of the Rev. Mr. Alexander 
Sinclare, in Plunkett street, Dublin; or, if he be dead, 
into the hands of the Rev. Messrs. Francis Pudale, of 
Cragshead, or either of them, in Cable street, Dublin; 
either of whom I order to distribute the said money 
in three equal shares among them, and if Alexander 
Sinclare be alive, I order him 20s. to purchase a com- 
memoration ring. I give and bequeath to my dear son 
John and to the heirs of his body, lawfully begot, the 
half or moiety of a tract of land called Buckland, lying 
on St. Martin's river, viz., that half which lies farthest 
up the river, and order the divisional line to be run from 
the river up either of the said lines of my Brother 
King's two hundred acres that may be most convenient, 
and so on to the outside woodland boundary. 

Item— I give and bequeath to my said son John and 
to his male heirs lawfully begotten, the one moiety of 
my stone house and lot at Snow Hill Town and one hun- 
dred acres of a tract of land called Pershoar, on the 
Whorekill creek, and I order it to be on the eastern side 
of said tract and that he have thirty-three perches of a 
third part of a perch from the last bounder of the said 
tract on the Whorekill point of land at the mouth of the 
creek toward the first bounder for his breadth, and for 
length backward at discretion, and if my son Robert 
disturb or put out him or his lawful male heirs of peace- 
able possession (and so cross my will), I leave and 
bequeath to my son John and to his male heirs lawfully 
begotten the other half of Buckland, but otherwise I 
give it not to John but dispose 'ont as afterwards. 

Item— I give to my son John and to his heirs forever 
(after payment of my just debts and the decease of my 




DENNIS KENNARD, AN OLD FAMILY SERVANT. 



beloved wife) the half of my historical books and all the 
rest save my law books and a few practical sermon 
books, and the third part of all my personal estate. 

Item— I give and bequeath to my dear son Robert 
Jenkins and to his heirs forever two tracts of land 
lying on Merattock River, in North Carolina, the one 
containing nine hundred and thirty and the other six 
hundred and forty acres, also the tract of land whereon 
I live called Mary's lot, containing four hundred acres, 
also Henry's Addition, lying on the south side of said 
Mary's lot, containing fifty acres; also a tract called 
Jeshimon lying above Snow Hill, containing one hundred 
and fifty acres; another called Providence, at Dividing 
creek, containing two hundred acres. 

Item— I give and bequeath to my said son Robert 
Jenkins the southmost half of Buckland aforesaid upon 
the condition aforesaid. The half of my lot and stone 
house at Snow Hill, also a tract on Pocomoke whereon 
Thos. Ellis now lives, called Necessity. These I say I 
leave and bequeath to my son Robert Jenkins and the 
heirs of his body lawfully begot. 

Item — I give and bequeath to him, the said Robert 
Jenkins, all my other real estate not here particularized 
and to his heirs forever, also my law books, some sermon 
books and the half of my historical books, and also the 
two-thirds of my personal estate after payment of my 
just debts and my dear wife's decease as above. 

Item.— I give and bequeath to my dearly beloved wife 
the full and free use and occupation of all the estate 
God hath given me, both real and personal, all the days 
of her life, only I desire my books be not lent abroad 
nor spoiled; and her, together with my two sons, I con- 
stitute and appoint executors of this my last will, &c. 



120 

Item, — I order and appoint that my two sons have a 
genteel education such as their genius inclines them to 
and may fit them to live handsomely in this ill world, 
and in order to this I desire my dear brother Robt. King 
and good friend Ephraim Wilson be counsellors in every 
difficult point to my wife how to manage the estate and 
guardians to my dear babes, and if any of these die 
before my children come of age then I appoint my good 
neighbor Robert Mills to join with the survivor. I hope 
they will not refuse nor be unfaithful in discharging the 
last request of your deceased friend. Let not false 
men wrong my dear wife nor poor orphan babes. 

John Henry. [Seal.] 

Signed, sealed, published and declared the day and 
year above said before. 
Jonathan Noble, 
Robert Harris, 
Elizabeth Dinely. 

It is my desire, too, that the Rev. Mr. John Hampton 
be a joint counsellor and director to my dear wife and 
children. 

Probated June 20, 1717. 

Recorded in Liber E. B., No. 9, folios 53 and 54. 

Test: Essine Bayly, 

Reg. W. S. Co. 

True Copy— Test: William F. Langford, 

Reg. W. S. Co. 

Will of Madam Mary Hampton. 

In the name of God —Amen. I, Mary Hampton, being 
in good health and of perfect mind and memory (thanks 



121 

be to God) do make and ordain this my last will and 
testament in manner and form following: 

Imprimis.— I give and devise unto my son Robert 
Jenkins Henry all the several tracts and parcels of land 
now called or known by the names following, and situate 
in the County of Somerset (to wit) one tract of land 
called Mareys' Lot, one other tract of land called Henrys' 
Addition. The southermost moiety of a tract of land 
called Buckland situated on the seaboard side of Somer- 
set county, including one moiety of two hundred acres 
of land purchased by me of my Brother Robert King, 
one other tract or parcel of land called Limbrick, my 
moiety of Cypress swamp called Conveniency, one other 
tract or parcel of land called Conveniency in a place 
called the Cypress Neck, one other tract or parcel of 
land called Highland, one other tract or parcel of land 
called Whitely, one other tract or parcel of land called 
Dickesons' Hope, one other tract or parcel of land called 
Goose Marsh, one other tract or parcel of land called 
Cow Marsh, one other tract of land called Providence, 
one other tract of land called Friends' Assistance and 
my Grist Mill near William Stevens' Ferry, and one 
other Grist Mill at Rehobeth Town, and all my lots in 
the said town, and one moiety of a lot in Snow Hill 
Town and the half of the store house there on the said 
lot, being numbered two. And also the moiety of a 
tract of land called Pershore, lying on Delaware Bay 
near the Horn Kill Creek in the County of Sussex; 
together with all profits, privileges and appurtenances 
whatsoever to the aforesaid lands, and every of them 
belonging, and also to the said lots and mills apper- 
taining unto the only proper use and benefit of my 
said son Robert Jenkins Henry, his heirs and assignees 
forever. 



122 

Item.— Whereas, I some years ago entered into an ob- 
ligation to a certain Thomas Shiles, conditioned to con- 
vey unto the said Thomas Shiles all my right, title and 
interest of, in and to a certain tract of land called Ig- 
noble Quarter, situated upon Wickocomoco river, in the 
said county of Somerset, containing by estimation three 
hundred acres, which the said Thomas Shiles hath since 
sold unto the Rev. Thomas Fletcher, and not as yet 
from me conveyed, I therefore give and devise unto the 
said Thomas Fletcher, his heirs and assigns, forever, all 
my estate, right, title, interest, claim and demand what- 
soever, of, in and to the aforesaid tract of land called Ig- 
noble Quarter, and all profits, privileges and appur- 
tenances to the same, belonging unto the only proper 
use and behoof of the said Thomas Fletcher, and of his 
heirs and assigns forever. 

Item. -I give and bequeath unto my loving brother, 
Col. Robert King, ten pounds current money of the 
Province of Maryland. 

Item.— I give and bequeath unto my two nephews, 
sons of my said brother, and to my nephews and nieces, 
the sons and daughters of my dear sister Ballard, de- 
ceased, the sum of twenty shillings current money, afore- 
said each, to buy each of them a commemorative ring. 

Item. — I give and bequeath unto Mr. Edward Round 
and his wife and Mrs. Katharine Round, the sum of 
twenty shillings, current money aforesaid, each to buy 
each of them a commemorative ring. 

Item.— I give and bequeath unto Elizabeth Jones, the 
wife of William Jones, of Manokin, one mulatto wench, 
named Eve, now in his possession, and her increase. 

Item. — I give and bequeath unto Mary Jones, daugh- 
ter of the said William Jones, two cows and calves. 



123 

Item. — I give and bequeath unto my son, Robert 
Jenkins Henry, all the stock of every kind, negroes 
excepted, that shall happen to be upon my present 
Manns plantation, and any of the lands before devised 
to my said son Robert Jenkins, except such as may be 
upon that moiety of the said tract Buckland, to him as 
aforesaid devised at the time of my decease. I also 
give unto my said son Robert Jenkins my clock. 

Item. — I give unto my son John Henry all the stock 
of every kind, negroes only excepted, that shall happen 
to be upon the lands before devised to my said son John, 
and upon my Savannah plantation at the time of my 
death. 

Item.— After my just debts and the several legacies 
paid, it is my will and desire that all the residue of 
personal estate, of what nature or kind soever, be equally 
divided between my aforesaid two sons, Robert Jenkins 
Henry and John Henry, and that they may not have 
any discord in regard to the said division or of or con- 
cerning any other matter whatsoever. 

Item. — It is my will and pleasure that, if my said son, 
Robert Jenkins Henry, or any claiming or that may 
claim under him, or his representative or representa- 
tives, any larger or other share of my personal estate 
than before to my said son bequeathed under the last 
will and testament of Mr. John Henry, my late husband 
deceased, or in any other manner, and shall sue or mo- 
lest the said John Henry, my son, or any under him, in 
the quiet enjoyment of the part and portion of my per- 
sonal estate to him as aforesaid given, then and in such 
case I give and devise unto my said son John Henry, his 
heirs and assigns forever the said tract or parcel of land 
called Highland, the said tract or parcel of land called 



124 

Dickeson's Hope, one tract of land called Goose Marsh, 
the said tract or parcel of land called Conveniency, my 
moiety thereof, the said tract or parcel of land called 
Providence, one tract called Cow Marsh, and the said 
tract of land called Whitely, to the said Robert Jenkins 
Henry, my son, so as aforesaid, devised with full liberty 
in case of such claim and disturbance into the said last- 
mentioned lands for him, the said John Henry, and his 
heirs to enter and to enjoy the same to his and their 
l^roper use forever. 

Lastly.— I do hereby appoint my aforesaid two sons, 
Robert Jenkins Henry and John Henry executors of 
this my last will and testament, and hereby disannul and 
revoke all former and other wills by me made and do 
declare this to be my last will and testament. 

In witness whereof, I have hereunto my hand set and 
seal affixed this twenty-sixth day of February, in the 
year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred forty-one. 

Mary Hampton. [Seal.] 

Signed, sealed, published and declared by the said 
Mary Hampton as her last will and testament, in pres- 
ence of us. 

Archebald White, 

William White, 
John Baker. 

December 13, 1744, came Archebald White and Wil- 
liam White, two of the subscribing evidences to this will, 
and made oath on the Holy Evangelist of Almighty God 
that they saw the Testator, Madam Mary Hampton sign 
and seal and heard her publish, pronounce and declare 
this instrument of writing to be her last will and testa- 
ment, and that at the time of her so doing she was to the 
best of their apprehension of sound and disposing mind 



125 

memory and understanding, and that they the said 
Archebald White and WilHam White, subscribed their 
names as evidences to this will, as also they further de- 
pose that they saw the other evidence John Baker sub- 
scribe as an evidence at the same time which was done 
in the presence and at the request of the Testator, Mary 
Hampton. Sworn to before 

Nehemiah King, 
Deputy Commissioner of Somerset County. 

Will of Col. John Henry. 

In the name of God— Amen. I, John Henry, of Som- 
erset county, in the State of Maryland, being in good 
health and of perfect mind and memory (thanks be to 
God), do make and ordain this my last will and testa- 
ment, in manner and form following, to-wit: 

First.— I give and devise unto my son John Henry, his 
heirs and assigns, forever, all that tract of land called 
Henry Addition to Western, as also all that tract of land 
called Cow Quarter, as also all that tract of land called 
Marsh Meadow, lying in Somerset county opposite to my 
late dwelling house, as by patent and deeds thereof doth 
appear, to have and to hold the several tracts aforesaid 
unto him, the said John Henry, his heirs and assigns, 
forever, which is all the land I think proper to give my 
said son by this, my last will; for, as much as I hope he 
will live to possess and enjoy an ample provision of land 
made for him and comprised in a deed of settlement 
heretofore made by myself and dear wife, deceased, to 
trustees for the use and purposes therein expressed, and 
not from any disaffection to him. 

Item.— I give and devise to my son Francis Jenkins 
Henry, his heirs and assigns, forever, all my lands of 



126 

what nature or kind so ever, situate, lying and being in 
Worcester county, in the State of Maryland, to have and 
to hold to him, the said Francis Jenkins Henry, his heirs 
and assigns, forever. 

Item. — I give and devise unto my son Rider Henry, 
his heirs and assigns, forever, the tract of land called 
Spring Hill, and one other parcel of a tract of land called 
Gold's Delight, situate, lying and being in Somerset 
county, as also the following lands in Dorchester county, 
to-wit: A tract of land called Pasture Neck, whereon 
Benjamin Caves and Joseph Cox now live, as also one 
other tract adjoining thereto called Henry's Addition to 
Pasture Neck, as also an undivided half or moiety of 
two lots of land in Vienna Town, number thirty-six and 
seven, together with one-half or moiety (the other half 
being the property of Henry Steele, Esquire) of the 
houses, gardens or other improvements of whatever kind 
that may be upon the said lot, to have and to hold the 
said several tracts and parcels of land as by the patents 
and deeds thereof to him, the said Rider Henry, his heirs 
and assigns, forever. 

Item. — I give and devise to my son Robert Henry, his 
heirs and assigns, forever, one tract of land called Rider's 
Forest, one other tract of land being part of two tracts 
of land lying on Chichacone, in the Indian town, the one 
called Hansell and the other Reserve, it being that part 
of the said lands which was my deceased wife's part and 
share on partition with her sisters, as by deed thereof 
may appear, containing four hundred and fifty acres; 
one other tract called Holly Swamp, one other tract 
called Addition to Holly Swamp, one other tract called 
Security, one other tract called Hog Range, as by patent 
and deeds doth appear, and also one other part or parcel 



127 

of a tract of land called Green's Loss, containing seventy- 
five acres, purchased by me of John Cope and lying upon 
his bond to me for conveyance, which said land was de- 
vised to the said John Cope by the last will and testa- 
ment of his brother David Cope, lying and being in Som- 
erset county; all of which said several tracts and par- 
cels of land aforesaid, to have and to hold to him, the 
said Robert Henry, his heirs and assigns, forever. 

Item— It is my will and desire that my five daughters, 
Charlotte Winder, Kiturah Henry, Dolly Henry, Nancy 
Henry and Sarah Henry have each of them a negro girl, 
paid by my executor hereafter named, the said negro 
girls to be between the age of ten and sixteen years, as 
near alike in quality as may be, as also one hundred 
pounds in gold or silver over and above their proportion- 
able part of my personal estate as hereafter bequeathed ; 
and if, at the time of my decease, I should not leave 
gold or silver sufficient to discharge these last bequests 
of money to each of my daughters aforesaid, it is my 
will and desire that they be discharged out of my per- 
sonal estate, rating the articles which shall be applied 
to this purpose at the current price they would sell for 
in gold or silver. 

Item.— I give and bequeath unto Esther Mahoon, who 
has long lived in my family, and in remembrance of her 
tenderness to all my children, the sum of fifty pounds 
in gold or silver, to be discharged as the money legacies 
to my daughters aforesaid. 

Item -I give and bequeath all the rest and residue of 
my personal estate not herebefore devised, of whatso- 
ever nature or wheresoever the same may be at the time 
of my decease, to be equally divided between my four 
aforesaid sons, John Henry, Francis Jenkins Henry, 



128 

Rider Henry, Robert Henry and my five daughters, 
Charlotte Winder, Kiturah Henry, Dolly Henry, Nancy 
Henry and Sarah Henry, share and share alike, and my 
intent and meaning is that when any of my children 
aforesaid have or shall be paid in advance any part of 
my personal estate in my lifetime, that such child or 
children shall consider the personal estate so paid or 
advanced as part of his or her share, and shall, upon the 
division of my whole personal estate, receive only such 
part, or shall make him, her or them equal to the child 
or children unprovided for in my lifetime. 

Item. — It is my will and desire that as long as any 
child or children shall continue to live with my executor, 
he shall receive and enjoy to his own use the whole 
profits (except the increase of negroes) of the estate of 
such child or children, both real and personal for the ex- 
pense and trouble he may be at in their education and 
maintenance, which I hope and expect he will perform 
in the same style and manner they have hitherto been 
educated and brought up; provided, that if any child or 
children aforesaid shall, on their arriving at the age of 
twenty-one, if sons, of sixteen, if daughters, demand his, 
her, or their estate, it is my will and desire, and I 
hereby direct my executor to pay and deliver over upon 
such demand to such child or children, the estate in 
kind as by this my will is devised; and it is my intent 
and meaning by the aforesaid clause that the estate 
aforesaid shall be delivered up clear of all taxes and of 
every burden whatsoever, and that no commission or any 
other charge shall be made on the payment of the said 
estates. 

Item. — It is my will and desire that my executor shall 
not be subjected to make good the loss of any negroes 



129 

that may happen by death, or otherwise, while they are 
in his possession, for as much as he is not to have the 
increase, but such loss shall be born by the child himself 
or herself, as the case may be. 

Item. — It is my will and desire that the crop which 
shall be made or that shall be in the ground of my plan- 
tation on Nanticoke, where I formerly lived, at my 
death, shall not be divided, but be to the use and the 
sole property of my executor. 

Item.— As David Johnson, late of Worcester county, 
deceased, and myself some years ago made a survey of 
some cypress swamp called Second Choice, which was 
patented in both our names, and being the survivor with- 
out any division made, I am informed the title to the 
whole devolves on me; at the time of taking up the said 
swamp the intent was to apply it to the use of our re- 
spective plantations, and it was agreed between us not 
to sell or dispose of any timber to any person whatsoever, 
or to get any ourselves for sale, but to keep it as a re- 
serve of timber for our plantations; now to do justice to 
the sons of the said David Johnson it is my will and de- 
sire, and I hereby direct that the sons of the aforesaid 
David Johnson and the heirs of their bodies lawfully 
begotten, have at all times free liberty to cut and make 
use of all such timber as they may stand in need of for 
their plantation, but for no other use or purpose what- 
ever. 

Item. — It is my will and desire that there be no ap- 
praisement of my estate, and that the same may be 
amicably and equally divided as I have heretofore de- 
vised and directed by this, my last will and testament. 
I entreat my worthy friends, Mr. Henry Steele, Mr. 
James Muir and Mr. Charles Muir, or the survivors of 



130 

them to give my dear children their most cordial advice 
and assistance in the division and settlement of my es- 
tate agreeable to this my last will. 

Lastly. — I hereby nominate, constitute and appoint 
my dear and well-beloved son, John Henry, sole execu- 
tor of this, my last will and testament, hereby revoking 
all former wills by me heretofore made. In witness 
whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my 
seal this 21st day of April, Anno Domini, 1781. 

John Henry. [Seal.] 

Signed, sealed, published and declared by the said 
John Henry, the testator, as and for his last will and 
testament, in the presence of us, who, in his presence, 
have subscribed their names as witnesses thereto. 

Henry Steele, 
James Steele, 

his 

John x Robinson. 

mark 

Memorandum.— What Mr. William Winder and Mr. 
Isaac Henry have had of my personal estate in advance 
towards their wives' portion, is entered in my account 
book (Liber E, folio 55). 

Probated September 13, 1781, and recorded in Liber 
E. B., No. 1, folios 147, 148 and 149. 

Test: EssiNE Bayly, Regr. 

True Copy— Test: William F. Lankford, 

Reg. W. S. Co. 

Will of John Campbell Henry. 

In the name of God— Amen. I, John C. Henry, of 
Dorchester county, being in my usual health, and of 
sound mind and memory, but taking into consideration 



131 

the uncertainty of human life, and being desirous of 
disposing of my worldly property before I shall be called 
from this world, do make, publish and declare this to 
be my last will and testament, viz. : 

Item 1st.— I give and bequeath to my dear wife, Mary 
Nevitt Henry, all my household furniture, plate, etc., 
during her life, in addition to her legal interest in my real 
and personal estate; I give to her also, all such supplies of 
corn, garden vegetables, bacon and groceries as may be 
upon my farm Hambrooks (for the year's consumption), 
for that year in which my death may happen, to the end 
that she may have a better opportunity to make such 
arrangements as may be necessary, from the change 
which must occur to her thereby. I here express the 
desire, and wish that she would divide her own property, 
both real and personal, equally, between all her children, 
as I have made no distinction between them, except such 
as is unavoidable, without a sacrifice of personal feeling. 

Item 2d.— I give to my son Daniel Maynadier Henry 
(as I have advanced less to him than to any of my sons), 
farm Hambrooks, containing one hundred and sixty 
acres, more or less, to him and his heirs forever, in lieu 
of all his interest in my real estate, including the lands 
or proceeds thereof, which I sold to the Larabees, and 
the farm I sold to James Brohawn, and provided he 
gives up his interest in his mother's real estate to 
be divided between his brothers and sisters, as I 
have lived so large a portion of my life at my pres- 
ent residence, and devoted so much of my time and 
attention to its improvement, I feel unwilling that 
it should be sold with the rest of my lands for the 
more equal and convenient distribution among my chil- 
dren (and hence the disposition I have made of it to my 



132 

son Daniel), and which I hope will create no dissatis- 
faction among them, as the intrinsic value of each will 
be so nearly equal as to give rise to no just cause for 
such. 

Item 3d.— I give and bequeath all my real and per- 
sonal estate, after my wife's portion is deducted, to be 
equally divided among my sons, James Winfield Henry, 
Francis Jenkins Henry, Daniel Maynadier Henry and 
Rider Henry, and my daughters, Kitty Lloyd, Isabelle 
E. Steele, Mary Goldsborough and Charlotte Augusta 
Page Goldsborough and their heirs, except the devise I 
have made to my son Daniel of my farm Hambrooks, as 
a full equivalent for all his interest in my and his 
mother's real estate as she possesses it at this date. 

Item 4th.— As I have left accounts upon my book, 
letter H, against all my children, of advances made to 
them, towards their respective interest in my real and 
personal estate, it is my will that whenever a distribu- 
tion is made these several sums shall be carried to the 
aggregate sum, and each child's advance shall become a 
part of his or her distributive share. 

Item 5th. — I leave to my old cook, Sinah Nash, eighty 
dollars in testimony of my estimation of her long and 
faithful services. I also leave to my aged servants, 
Letty Jackson, of my Indian Town farm, and Sal Bayly, 
formerly of the same farm, twenty dollars each for their 
long fidelity and for the fidelity of their families, as 
none of them have ever fled from my service after being 
raised to adult age. 

Item 6th. — I leave my old servants, James Kennard, 
and his brother, Dennis Kennard, to be free at my death, 
or to be sold to their wives, for a small sum, so as to 
legalize their freedom, as soon as my wife, their mis- 



133 

tress, can provide substitutes, and this I desire to be 
done as soon as her convenience will permit. 

Lastly. — I leave my sons James W. Henry, Francis J. 
Henry, Daniel M. Henry and Rider Henry joint execu- 
tors of this my last will and testament. 

In testimony whereof I hereunto set my hand and 
seal this twenty-eighth day of May, in the year of our 
Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five. 

John C. Henry. [Seal.] 

Signed, sealed, published and declared by J. C. Henry, 
the above named testator, as and for his last will and 
testament, in the presence of us, who, at his request, in 
his presence, and in the presence of each other, have 
subscribed our names as witnesses thereto. 

Thomas J. Dail, 
James H. Eccleston, 
James L. Colston. 



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